Storybrooke Will Never be the Same Again
by SunnyDay365
Summary: This is a fanfiction about the Once Upon a Time story, but I've inserted myself into various scenes. THIS IS A CRACK FIC. If you're looking for something different or a good laugh this is the story for you. It starts off as a NOT-crack, but it picks up. Pinky promise. This summary kind of sucks. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!
1. A Stranger in Storybrooke

**So I just had this idea in my head and I just went with it! This is my first fanfiction. Hope you all enjoy!**

 **xxx**

Chapter 1

(1x1)

"Hey! What are you doing at my castle?" A voice loudly protested from behind.

Henry turned to face a chocolate skinned, thin girl about the same age as him. Her frizzy hair was wild and looked like it hadn't been comb in a few days. She didn't have on the same school uniform he had, so he assumed she either didn't go to school or she skipped like he did. The young stranger had long jeans that had a hole forming in one of the knees, a striped shirt, and a thing, light pink jacket. She slowly approached him. Her entire demeanor changed when she notice he had been crying.

"Oh. Hey. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry. You can play here if you want. I don't mind." The stranger spoke as she sat next to Henry on the edge of the castle. Henry studied the young girl curiously. He'd never seen her around town before. She seemed different, though he wasn't sure if it was a good different yet. He lowered his head and sighed. Nothing was making any sense.

"She was supposed to bring back the happy endings." Henry mumbled. If the world around them hadn't been so quiet she would have missed it.

"Who?"

"The Savior."

Before the dark stranger could reply heavy footsteps sounded from close behind. Emma stopped when she noticed Henry wasn't alone. She cleared her throat and awkwardly continued to approach the two children.

"Hey kid, you left this in my car." Emma kneeled behind Henry as she handed him his book. Emma looked to the child sitting next to him. The young stranger looked as if she were ready to run.

"Goodbye. I should go." The thing girl attempted to jump of the castle, but her jacket got hooked on a loose nail causing her to loose her momentum. Instead of landing on her feet, she fell flat on her face and landed in the dirt and rocks that awaited below. Henry and Emma stared at the girl, waiting to see if she were okay. The young girl quickly hopped up, brushed the debris off of her skin and clothing, bashfully turned around before she waved goodbye. The two cautiously watched the strange girl walk off.

"Who's that?" Emma asked Henry.

"I have no idea."

 **xxxxx**

(1x5)

As few weeks had past since Emma had arrived in Storybrooke. Henry was determined to prove to Emma and everyone else in the town that his mom was the Evil Queen and they were all cursed. He was currently in the mines trying to do just that. The tunnels were dark and smelled old. The air was dry and dust easily filled his lungs. Henry didn't mind though. Heroes had to take chances and make sacrifices to save the ones they loved. It didn't mean the mines didn't creep him out just a bit. Henry suddenly stopped when something reflected off of the light of his flashlight. He reached for the odd piece of glass wedged in between the rock wall.

"Don't touch that!" A voice from his left yelled.

Henry screamed and flashed his light in the direction of the intruder. Then the intruder screamed in response. When they were both finished yelling in each other's faces Henry was able to recognize the intruder. It was the same young stranger from the castle. Her clothes were the same, maybe a bit dirtier than before, but the same. She had her wild hair pulled up into a ponytail or was it a bun? He couldn't tell. Suddenly the ground began to shake and the rock wall they standing next to began to tumble. Henry and the young stranger sprinted through the tunnels and far away from the sudden avalanche. Henry stopped when he realized his companion was no longer following him. He turned to see where she ended up. She was sitting from the ground. She must have tripped. Henry shook his head. This was the clumsiest person he'd ever met.

"I'm stuck! Go on without me young soldier!" She dramatically sighed.

Henry rolled his eyes and walked over to help free her Converse from the tracks that were embedded in the mine's floor. As they work to free her foot they heard faint calls of another person not far in another tunnel.

"Henry?" The voice cried. "Henry?" It called louder.

"Archie?" The boy whispered. "Archie!!" Henry yelled as he popped around the corner, leaving his fallen friend behind.

"Henry!?!" The ginger haired man yelled as he shielded his eyes from the bright light.

"You're here to help me!"

"No, Henry listen. We got to get out of here, okay." Archie spoke gently.

"You don't believe me? You'll see! You'll see!"

"Henry! Henry! Come back!"

The young stranger lifted her head from her spot on the ground when she heard the boy run around the corner. "You're back! Did you get help?"

"No. Archie won't help us. Come on. We have to keep looking." Henry began to move further into the tunnel.

"Hey! I'm still stuck!" The young girl panicked.

Henry sheepishly smiled as he came towards her. "Oh yeah. Sorry."

"It's ok. Just help me out." The girl encouraged. Together they worked to free her foot from the track and ventured further into the mines.

"So….. what are we looking for exactly?" The stranger spoke.

"We're looking for proof that the curse exist." Henry spoke confidently.

"Ok. What's the curse?"

"This." He gestured around the area around them. "Is the curse."

"The mines?"

"No. The whole town!"

The girl stopped walking and deeply frowned. "I don't understand."

Henry sighed then stop as well. "None of us are supposed to be here. Everyone in this town was cursed from a Fairytale Land to this town and now no one remembers who they are!"

"WOW. Are you for real or are we playing?"

"I'm serious!"

"Ok, so what do we do?" She spoke with the new found conviction.

"We need to get the savior to believe."

"Ok…. And how do we do that?"

Henry rolled his eyes. Having to explain this was getting exhausting. "We get proof that the curse is real. So she can believe in magic. So that she can break the curse. That's why we're here. In the mines."

"Oh! Ok. So what exactly are we looking for?" The Stranger continue to question.

"I don't know something that proves that the curse is real. Look for anything that doesn't belong."

 **x x x**

They continued to look through the mines, but couldn't find anything. Not long after Archie found them and told them that they were trapped inside the mines. Archie lead them to an old shafts or an elevator of sorts when he heard Pongo's barking. The group was currently stuck in the makeshift elevator.

"Hey guys?" Everyone looked towards the dark-skinned girl. "I have a confession to make."

"Well if there's anything you need to get off your chest, I'm here to listen." The Ginger haired man with the round glasses spoke calmly.

"I used to eat lotion when I was a baby. And I cheated on a spelling test once, even though I knew all the words. And I'm afraid of the dark. Like, really scared." The girl confessed.

"What's your name?" Henry suddenly asked.

"Penelope Jean. Most people just call me Penny Jean. I'm guessing you're Henry and you're Archie?" They both nodded. "Are you his dad?"

"I don't have a dad. Archie is just my friend." Henry replied.

"Wait. Henry, you don't know this girl?" Archie looked confused.

"No. I found her in here." The young brunette stated. "I'm really, really, really sorry. I just wanted to find proof."

"It's ok." Archie sadly smiled. "I'm sorry too. I'm not the man I thought I could be."

"I think you can be him. I mean, you're Jimmy Cricket." Henry smiled.

"Wait. You're _the_ Jimmy Cricket!? Like the one from Pinocchio? The one with funny hat and umbrella?" Penny finally speaks up. She notices the umbrella Archie is holding and her eyes grow two sizes. "OH MY GOODNESS, GRACIOUS MERCY!! He has the umbrella! You have the umbrella! HENRY!!" She begins shaking the boy next to her. "He's Jimmy Cricket! The curse…. I'm a fairytale character… who am I? Henry who am I?" The ten year olds beamed at each other before looking at Archie.

"Wait.. I don't think-". Archie wasn't able to finish speaking before the elevator shaft shook again. Archie sighed and decided to choose his battles. "Why do you think it's so important for all of this to be real?" He asked Henry.

Henry thought for a moment before he spoke. "Because this can't be all there is I thought if I found proof... but I didn't find anything…"

"I was lost; you found me." Archie encouraged.

"You found me too! I can feel it in my heart! I know you're right. Don't give up hope. Archie thought he was a looser before you told him how cool and kind Jimmy Cricket was." Penny Jean pushed against Henry's shoulder with her own and smiled at him.

"You know, I…. Um I wouldn't.. say l-looser." Archie mumbled.

Suddenly there was a light that shined from above. No one in the enclosed space wanted to look up, there were rocks that kept falling from above.

"What's that?" Henry gasped.

"I think it's a rescue." Archie responded.

"Hey! You guys ok?" Emma smiled down at them.

"Hallelujah! Thank you Jesus! We are saved!!" Penny left from her spot on the ground and pulled Henry up with her. She waved the half eaten Apollo candy bar Henry had give earlier.

"Who… Who's that?" Emma was confused. She could have swore Henry and Archie were the only ones in the mines.

"I'm Penny Jean! Henry's new friend! Are you hear to save us? Please say 'yes'! I'm scared of the dark and I don't like small places, they make me feel funny."

"Umm. Sure. Yeah. I mean, I can help all of you. I'm going to take the children up first, then I'll come back for you Archie. Ok?" Emma spoke. Everyone nodded in agreement.

Once Emma happened the children situated and secure some kind of way around her, the elevator began to shake and slide down. Emma and the two children screamed when they thought Archie had fallen with the elevator. Luck would have it, Archie's umbrella saved his life. He hung onto a metal piece connected to it Emma's safety belt. The crowd's cheers became deadly silent when the saw the second child emerge mines. Emma watched as Regina pulled Henry from her arms and off to the paramedics. The second child she had been holding, sprinted from her arms and began to sing and shouted to the top of her lungs. "FREEDOM! FREEDOM! I'M FREE!" The poor girl wasn't looking where her footing was and tumbled down the dusty crater that led to the original entrance to the mines. A distant "I'm ok!" was shouted from where she fell. Where on earth had this child come from?

 **xxx**

 **Ok. I hope you all enjoined! I promise this will become more of a crack as the story progresses. Any story I add myself in would become a crack. Lol. Let me know if I should continue. ~SD!**


	2. Crashing In

Chapter 2

(1x11)

It had been a few months since any had seen the strange girl who suddenly appeared out of the minds then mysteriously vanished. She was the talk of the town for about a week. Sydney even wrote an article or two about her before the town lost interest. The mayor and the new sheriff tried finding the girl and who she was, but they hit dead end after dead end. It was hard when you had no reason to start off with. Storybrooke's mayor only wanted to find the girl because she didn't like loose ends. Emma on the other hand wanted to find a girl because she didn't like the idea that a child was out wandering in the town by herself. The search for the missing child was put on the back burner when Sheriff Graham Humbert unexpectedly died. Then the whole thing with the town hall being on fire and the election for new sheriff. No one had seen her since the accident at the mines. Well… until today.

Henry raced on his bike towards castle fort by the shore. He was so worried about his book he didn't even stop to great Emma.

"Henry!!" Penny suddenly appeared in front of Henry's path. "Henry!! AHHHH!!"

The young boy quickly stamped on his breaks and stopped his bike just before hitting hit the girl in front of him. Unfortunately for the two children, the laws of physics was not on their side today. Henry flew over his bike handle and crashed on to Penny Jean.

"Henry are you ok!?" Emma rushed over and help the boy on to his feet.

"Yeah. I think I'm ok." Henry said as he brushed the dirt from his clothes.

"I think I'm dead." Penny mumbled from her spot on the ground.

"Penny I could've hit you. Are you ok?" Henry asked as helped her from the ground.

"No." She responded with a big smile. Henry looked up at Emma and shared a confused look. "The storm destroyed the castle, but I'm so happy to see you again." Penny Jean mumbled into Henry's shoulder as she engulfed him in a hug.

Henry gasped remembering why he came there in the first place. "The castle! The book! Oh no, the storm!" He pushed Jean off of him and ran to the destroyed castle.

"AWW. It's ok kid. We can get Marco and he can maybe help us fix it?" Emma encouraged.

"Do you think it's still here?"

"What?"

"My book!"

"You hid it here? Why not under your bed?"

"That's the first place the Evil Queen would look."

"Why not leaving with me?" Emma said hopefully.

"That's the second place." Henry dug through the sand and uncovered a chest that held his book. "Good. It's still here."

"Henry." Penny Jean spoke up. The two completely forgot she was there. "Is that the book that all the fairytales come from?"

"Not you too." Emma mumbled.

"Ms. Emma?"

"Emma's just fine kid." Emma smiled down at the new stranger.

"My mom said not to call adults by their first names. It's rude."

"Hey, where's your mom anyway?" Emma wondered.

"Umm… she's around. Probably at home." Penny clamped up.

"And Where's home?" Emma pushed.

"The Enchanted Forest apparently. Henry is that the book?" Penny changed the subject. Emma gave up. She wasn't going to get any information from the little girl.

"Yeah. It has everyone's story in it." Henry explained.

"Does it have my story?"

"Umm.. I haven't found it yet." Henry sadly admitted. "But I'll keep looking. It has to be in here somewhere." He added when Penny Jean let out a defeated 'oh'.

"So your mom doesn't know about the castle?" Emma asked Henry.

"Of course not. This is our secret." Henry smiled at Emma.

"Henry?!" Another voice came from the direction of Emma's parked car. Hearing the sound of his adopted mother's voice, Henry quickly hid his book and stood next to Emma. "Henry I was looking all over for you. You know you have a morning session with Archie. Car. Now." Regina pointed to her black car.

"I thought you said she didn't know about the castle." Penny mumbled as Henry sulked to the car.

"And who are you?" Regina glared at the young stranger. She took in the child's straggly appearance. "Did you just crawl out of a hole or something?"

"The mines actually. And my name is Penelope Jean. Who are _you_?" Penny sassed back.

"Regina Mills, mayor of Storybrooke."

The young brunette wasn't impressed. "You're not very nice for a mayor." She said as she stomped to where Henry stood by his mom's car. Penny kicked the front tire of the black car, then once again for good measure.

"Penny what's wrong?" Henry asked as he his hand on her shoulder.

"I don't have anywhere to go. The castle was destroyed."

"Wait. You lived in the castle? Where's your house? Where's your family?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen them in a while." Penny frowned.

"We have to tell Emma. She'll help." Henry suggested.

"No! We can't. She's the police. She'll send me away."

"No she won't. She helped Ava and Nicolas. She didn't send them away. Emma helped them find their dad in town."

"Henry my family isn't in Storybrooke." Penny explained, but she only got a confused look from Henry. "I'm not from here!"

"But no one can leave or enter town!"

"I know! Henry what am I going to do!"

"Henry let's go." The mayor spoke as she approached to car. Penny sent a panicked look towards Henry.

"Umm. Mom?"

"Yes, dear?"

"Could Penny come with us? Please?" Henry begged his mother.

"Henry no. You have a session with Archie. Where would she stay?"

"She can stay with you until my session is over."

"Henry, I have work."

"She can go with you. She won't bother you. Right penny?" Henry looked to his new friend.

Penny Jean nodded. "Of course. I won't say a word. Promise."

"Mom please. She's, my friend." Henry and Penelope beamed at each other.

"I… ugg fine, but you can't go to my office looking like that." Regina eyed the young girl distastefully.

 **xxx**

Penny twisted uncomfortably in the too large dress and shoes. Regina grabbed the first things she saw in a children's boutique after dropping Henry off at Archie's. They didn't have time to do anything with Penny Jean's hair, so it was still a mess. The strange looks the secretary gave the pair when they walled in were dismissed by a glared the mayor sent his way.

"I need to step out while I take this call. I'll be right back. Don't move. Don't touch anything." With that the mayor left her office. Penny abandoned her spot on the couch for the chair behind the mayor's desk. She practiced her best 'Angry Mayor' face. Not long after a man stepped into the room.

"Ah where's the mayor?"

"She had to step out. I'm acting as mayor in her place until she returns."

"Do you know when she will return?" The man asked.

"Who knows? It could be awhile."

"When she does, can you let her know I stopped by?"

"And what is your name?"

"Um. Sydney. Sydney Glass."

"Isn't Sydney a girl name?"

"No, it can be used for either. Will you just let the mayor know I stopped by?"

Penny tapped her chin. "I'll think about it. Hold on I'm getting something. _Penny dear some guy named Sydney Glass wanted you to know he stopped by._ Well what did he want? _I'm not sure_. _He just wanted you to know he was here._ Couldn't he just write that on the wall somewhere, like a normal person? I have to go. Someone is in my office." Penny finished the conversation with herself, she finally looked at Sydney. "Can I help you?"

"Aren't you the girl from the mines?" Sydney asked when he recognized the girls face. "Why are you with the mayor?"

"Maybe I am. Why would I tell you?"

"I'm from the news paper. I'm working on article about the mayor. The people want to know if the mayor of Storybrooke is as mean as she seems. It could really help the town know whether or not to vote for her during the next election. Penny sighed. On one hand, the lady was rude, but she's Henry's mother. If she looses her position as the mayor, Henry might become homeless like her and she couldn't let that happen.

"The mayor is… she is umm… doing charity. Yup. She's reaching out to the less fortunate. I'm her helper for the day. And I've already been promoted to mayor!" Nice one Penny. Penelope Jean thought to herself.

"What makes _you_ 'less fortunate'."

"I lost my family… in the storm. Mayor is in charge of the entire town, right?"

"That's is correct."

"And all the official town buildings?"

"Yes."

"Is the news paper is an official town building?" Penny asked as she kneeled in the rolling chair she was in.

"Why, yes it is." The graying man responded with an air of smugness. Penny gave the man and evil smile, same as she watch Regina do a hundred times in the 30 minutes she's known her.

"So that makes the mayor your boss." It wasn't a question, but Sydney nodded anyway. "Then, YOU'RE FIRED!"

"WHAT!? YOU CAN'T DO THAT! YOU FILTHY LITTLE RAT-"

"Sydney!" The mayor stepped into her office.

" Madam Mayor." Sydney gasped.

"What are you doing here? I thought I fired you."

"Ha! You got fired TWICE! Double fired!" Penny said as she righted herself in the mayor's chair.

"Get out Sydney." The mayor demanded.

"Sorry you had to spend the morning with my mom. I know she can be… evil." Henry apologized. He and his new friend were walking down main street on their way to Granny's.

"Actually , it wasn't all bad." Henry looked Penny has of she'd grown two heads? "I got to fire somebody. _And_ I got new clothes. Though they are too big." She continued to explain as she tugged on the dress she was wearing.

"Is that's what's in the bag?" Henry pointed to the shopping bag Penny was swinging in her hand.

"This? Oh no. It's just my clothes from before." The two children walked into Granny's. The diner seemed to be pretty busy. They only spot available was an empty booth in the center of diner. Henry broke down the curse and who all the people from the Enchanted Forest were to Penny.

"Don't you guys have homework to do or something?" Emma asked as she slid into the booth across from the two children.

"No all we do is build birdhouses." Henry half heartedly explained. He was too engrossed in explaining his book to his new friend.

"My dad and I built a bird house at Home Depot once." Penny randomly stated. Emma and Henry simply starred at her in response. Getting distracted Penny Jean quickly changed. "Henry if your mom really wanted to make this a normal town, she should've added a McDonald's or something. I bet their ice cream machine would still be broken though."

Understanding what Penelope was talking about, Emma broke out into laughter. "What's McDonald's?' Henry questioned. It was the females turn to look at Henry as if he had lost his mind. "What?"

"Henry, I think you might be cursed too. Even the vegans and health freaks know about McDonald's." Penny commented.

 **xxx**

"So, this is my house." Henry pointed to the large, white, mayoral home.

"You live here!?" Penny gasped. "You could fit the whole town in there! Ok, maybe not the _whole_ town, but like half or something. You're mom's going to let me stay here?"

"Well.. actually she won't know you're here." Henry admitted.

"So, i'm like a stole away? Cool!"

"Yeah." Henry leads Penny Jean up the stairs and to the first room. "This is my room. The door next mine is the bathroom." Henry leads her down the hall towards a new door. "And this is your room. Mom never comes down here so you should be good. You can decorate it however you like." Before Henry could even finish his sentence was tackled into a vicious hug.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you Henry! You're the best!"

 **xxx**

 **Again it's not crack yet, but I wanted to establish a base for the story. The next chapter will most likely be crack. I wanted to get past season 1 first. I'm open to suggestions. Let me know if I should continue. ~SD!**


	3. The Dollhouse

Chapter 3

Penny stayed hidden in the house for three weeks until one day she went missing. Henry just assumed the Evil Queen had something to do with it. She Of course knew that another child was living in her home. She noticed when Henry would sneak food to an upstairs bedroom, though food was absolutely prohibited anywhere on the upper levels. Or the time Henry begged her to practically buy an entire girl's wardrobe for his 'friend's birthday party gift'. She began to larger servings at dinner so that Henry would actually _eat_ his dinner and not give half of it way. But she claims she had nothing to with the girl's disappearance. She had a good alibi. The mayor was too busy trying to kill Ms. Swan to get rid of the extra child in her home.

The curse had broken. Emma and Snow returned safely to Storybrooke, but Cora and hook followed. The two villains were wreaking havoc on the small town. In the midst of all the hoopla father and son and son where you were reunited and Neal came to Storybrooke. An unlikely alliance between Snow White and Rumpelstiltskin came up with the plan to defeat Cora and Captain Hook. Rumple explained that Cora was a big softy before she ripped her own heart out. She couldn't rule a kingdom _and_ seek revenge on everyone who wronged her while the large, loving organ beat in her chest. The plan was to give Cora back her heart. Problem 1: the Queen of Hearts put a blood spell on it, only she or a blood relative could put it in and Cora would never put it in willingly. That left only one person. Regina. The Evil Queen. Problem 2: after the death of Archie, no one knows where Regina is.

"Are you sure this plan is going to work?" Emma asked her parents. Emma, Snow, Charming, Neal, Belle, Henry, and the dark one himself were all crowded into the back room of the pawn shop.

"Of course it will Emma." Snow encouraged sweetly. "You just have to have hope."

"Yeah, but how do we know Regina is really in her crypt thing place?"

"Because I know my mom." Henry spoke up boldly. "And… I've checked everywhere else."

Emma's heart ached of the eleven year old. He was struggling on how to feel about his adoptive mother. On one hand he despise her because she was the Evil Queen and she was bad, but on the other hand he loved her because she was still the woman who raised him his whole life.

"We'll find her kid." Emma weakly encouraged.

The moment was ruined when a yelling Leroy came bursting through the front entrance of Golds shop. "She's back!" Leroy wheezed.

"Who?" "The Queen?" "Cora!?" "My mom!?" they all question simultaneously.

"No." Leroy looked terrified. A sense of doom washed over everyone in the pawn shop. "Her." They were appointed to the door and in stepped Penelope Jean Everetts. She looked different. She wore glasses now. She was taller by maybe an inch, older by only a month, cleaner, and very colorful. She had on black and white, striped, long sleeved shirt with a sleeveless, navy hoodie over it. She also had on turquoise leggings and jean shorts. Her hair was in two neat braids that stopped just below her shoulders. Penny had the biggest smile on her face and barrel towards Henry. Everyone flinched when the young girl screamed and tackled Henry.

"Henry! I haven't seen you forever! Did you break the curse?" Penny began rambling.

"I um yeah.. the curse broke." Henry replied

"She popped out one of the caves while I was looking for fairy dust she nearly gave me and have to dwarfs a heart attack. I'm pretty sure this is the same girl that tried to sell me acorns for a week while we were cursed."

"Why acorns?" Emma asked.

"She some kind of fall out with the… squirrels and was trying to get back at them…. I think-"

"MAGIC!?! We have to say Storybrooke! We need to get to the Queen's Vault now!" Penny turned to the adults. "What are you all standing around for? Let's go!"

 **xxx**

"Together we can rule Storybro-" Cora stopped mid sentence grabbed her chest.

"Mother?" Regina's hostile demeanor suddenly change and concerned for her mother. Cora had been trying for weeks to convince Regina to join her in the takeover of Storybrooke. After the incident with Dr. Hopper, Regina locked herself in a secret room in her vault. Unfortunately Cora found her and was relentless to rule Storybrooke with her daughter. "Mother what's wrong?"

"My heart. I left it with my things in your vault. Someone's trying to steal it." Cora explained. "Go to it."

Regina did hesitate to follow her mother's instructions. She weaved through the tunnels of her vault until she reached the room that held her mother's things. There stood Snow White, holding the box with her mother's heart.

"Regina!" Snow jumped when she realized she was caught.

"You have no right to be here." The Queen growled. "And you have no right to that!" She pointed to the glowing bike in Snows hands.

"I… was going to give it to you." Snow spoke softly.

"What?"

"She can't love you, you know. She doesn't have her heart. With it maybe she can. That's way you never felt she loved you. She doesn't have her heart. But I do."

"You're doing this for me?" Regina asked unconvinced.

"Think about it. What would happen if Cora had her heart back? She can't love. Imagine having a mother… a family Henry could be apart of. The choice is yours."

 **xxx**

"Ahh Cora. I knew this day would come." Gold spoke as he and Cora circled each other. In the back of his shop.

"And day would that be, Rumple?" Cora questioned.

"The day the student challenges the teacher for power. Sorry to disappoint dearie, but you won't get it."

"How can you be so sure? You said it yourself, the future is a bit fuzzy."

Without another word the two began the magical battle for power. They caused the ground to shake. The lights began to flicker. Rumple almost had the upper hand, but he underestimated Cora. She was stronger than him and his magic began to weaken. With one last blast from Cora, Rumple was crumpled to the floor. Cora took the dark one dagger he had been using from his hand and raised it high, ready to strike. Suddenly there were overwhelming emotions that began to flood Cora's system. She dropped the dagger and stumbled back. It didn't take long to figure out what happened. Her heart was put back into her chest.

Regina waited to see if her mother having her heart back in her chest would really change her. Cora smile brightly at Regina for the first time. It was like looking at a different person. "Mother." Regina couldn't help but smile back. One second they were laughing together, then Cora was collapsing into her daughter's arms. "Mother? Mother what's happening?" The queen began panicking as she laid her mother across her lap.

"This would've been enough. You would've been enough." Cora whispered before going completely still in her daughter's arms.

"Mother? What's going on? Don't leave me please….." Regina cried onto her mother's shoulder.

"Regina!!" Snow White yelled as she and the rest of the group ran into the back of the pawn shop. Everyone stopped abruptly when they saw the scene before them. "Regina? What happened?"

"You." The ex-Evil Queen growled darkly. "You tricked me into killing my own mother!!"

"What no." Snow whispered.

"She's dead?" Penny asked from behind David. "What kinda heroes are you?"

"Regina no!" Snow ignored the child. "I didn't do anything."

Regina gently set her mother down and approached predator-like. "Snow White, you ruin EVERTHING!!!" She yelled as she created a giant fireball in her hand. Penny let out a silent scream and attempted to run, but failed to realize henry and Emma were standing behind her. They all fell into a heap on the floor. The mood of the room quickly changed when the supposedly deceased Cora Mills began to laugh and rise from her spot on the ground.

"Regina dear, calm down. I'm fine. You're so serious all the time." Cora laughed. "You need to smile more. And put that out."

Regina let the fireball fizzle into the air, too stunned like the rest of the room to do anything.

"I thought-" Penny began to speak before she cut herself off. "I'm so confused."

"Me too kid." Emma mumbled.

"Can't you all take a joke?" Cora rolled her eyes. "Now. Where's my grandson?" Everyone naturally blocked Henry from Cora's view, but the action only brought attention to the young boy. "Oh! You must be Henry. It's so good to finally meet you." Her eyes shifted to the dark girl sitting beside him. "And who dear, might you be? Are you Henry's girlfriend?"

"NO!" The eleven year olds shouted.

"Ok I need a minute." Regina sighed. "I'm going to my vault to gather up some of my things. Henry, Penelope I expect you at my home in 45 minutes." No wanted to argue her. Honestly, Emma was a bit relieved. She didn't know how they're going to fit _another_ person into the small apartment meant for two. "Mother just don't go anywhere. Or touch anything." With that she disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke.

 **xxx**

Once Penny and Henry were situated in their old rooms, they joined the ex-queens for dinner in the dining room.

"So what is it you do for fun around here grandson?" Cora smiled at Henry.

"I um… I like to read." Henry offered. "umm.. Penelope says she like to play dolls. But that's kind of boring. You can't do much with dolls."

"Are you kidding! There's lots you can do with dolls." Penny Jean explained. "I mean they don't _have_ to be girly. Though I don't play with them much now."

"You grew out of them?" Regina asked, adding her into the conversation.

"No. I just don't have any dolls here in Storybrooke."

"Of course. Where are you fr-" Cora excitedly interrupted her daughter before she could get more information out of the young stranger.

"I can build you're a doll house!" Cora proudly announced.

"Really? You'd do that for me?" Penelope asked.

"Of course! I'd do anything for my grand kids. I can build your doll house right now, with magic."

"I'm not your granddaughter."

"Are you not Henry's twin sister?"

Henry and Penny looked at each other, then to Cora, then to each other again. The two hoped she wasn't serious. They were polar opposites of each other as far as looks went.

"Mother…"

"Seriously. Again." Cora frowned. "It's a joke! You're _supposed_ to laugh. Don't you have jokes in this relm?" The rest of the table _oh'd_.

"Grandma you got to work on you delivery. We can't tell when you're joking or not." Henry explained. Cora frowned. "Don't worry, I'll teach you."

"Great!" Regina clapped her hands together. "You have an hour until bed time. Use it wisely. I have a few work things I need to figure out, but I'll be done in time to tuck you in."

The preteens nodded and dragged an excited Cora to Penny's room. "Your room is pretty bare for an eleven year old girl." The ex-queen noticed. "Just a little something to personalize your living quarters. You're welcome."

Suddenly a corner of the room filled with dark purple smoke and reviled a large, elegant, very detailed doll house. The house was about as tall the preteens. There was a manual elevator, a ballroom, a large garage for three cars, but no dolls. Penny took a closer look at the house. "Ms. Cora this is awesome! It almost makes me wish I was a doll so could live here."

"You can!" Before either child could question her, the three of them shrunk and reappeared in the doll house. "Now you can life your life the same way your precious dolls do."

"Grandma this cool!" Henry beamed.

"Cool?" Cora repeated.

"Yeah. It's what you call something that you like. Style and delivery is everything."

"Ms. Cora? Does everything in this house really work?" Penelope Jean questioned as she studied the furniture in the house. The house very dated, something you'd see in Henry's book. She wandered into the kitchen and noticed that there was quite a few things missing. "Where's the refrigerator?"

"What's that dear?" Cora asked as she followed the children into the room.

"It's… um… it's an ice box that you put your food in so it won't go bad." Penny explained. "There's one in the _real_ kitchen down stairs."

"Oh! That sounds… interesting. Would you like add one of those in here?" Cora waved her hand and magically supplied a refrigerator. The children inspected the new appliance to find that it was cold and running.

"It actually works!" Henry beamed.

"Of course it does. Everything in this house works. How about I give you a tour. We can make more adjustments to suit your liking along the way!" Cora showed the all around the house until the reached to top floor. She was so invested in showing her grandson and his friend and good time, she didn't notice her panicked daughter pop in and out of the room.

"Grandma. Since everything else in this house works, does that mean the cars in the garage down there work as well?" Henry gave cheeky smile as Cora nodded. "Let's race!"

"Race?"

"Yeah! It could be fun! Please grandma?"

"Yeah, we can take the cars in the hallway and race. We can start at Grandma's room, then make a U-turn by the stairs in front of mom's room, and finish back here." Henry explained.

"Sounds like a plan! I call the punch buggy!" Penny smiled.

 **xxx**

The three of them were each in there respective cars at the starting line. The proper accommodations were made to make driving as simple as possible. They also put radios in each of the cars so that the could communicate during the race.

"Drivers are you ready!" Henry yelled. The two others nodded. "On your mark! Get set! Go!" They all raced down the hallway. When they approached the first turn Henry cut in front of Cora and took the lead.

"Henry!" Cora screamed into her radio. "I am your grandmother, I should be respected at all times. That means you should let me win!"

"Good things those rules don't apply to me!" Penny laughed as she pulled ahead of Cora.

"Children! Respect your elders." Cora laughed. All was going well as they approached the U-turn. That is, until Regina's bedroom door opened and the queen herself stepped out.

"No Emma, I can't find them….." The ex-evil queen had yet to notice the toy cars racing towards her.

"Mom out!! Abort! Abort! Turn back!" Henry yelled over the radio. They all made sharp turns trying to avoid the giant feet heading towards them. Fate had other plans. By the time Regina noticed the vehicles, she was already on her way to the floor. 'oof'. Henry rushed out of his car and pulled Penny out her car that was overturned by the Queen's heeled foot.

"Mom! Are you ok?!" Henry yelled up at his mother. Regina screamed and pushed herself to a sitting position.

"HENRY!?! HENRY WHAT HAPPENED!?!"

"Mom it's ok!" Henry tried reassuring his mother.

"Grandchildren are you ok!?" Cora asked as she ran out of her small car.

Regina could only sit in horror as the scene unfolded. " _Regina! Regina? Are you still there? What happened? Are you ok? Regina!? I'm coming over!"_ Emma's panicked voice echoed from the phone clutched in the queen's hand. "Mother? Why are all of you small?" Her voice was shaking when she spoke.

"Regina dear, the children and I were only having a bit of fun." Cora soothed as she grew everyone to their normal heights. "Penny and I only wanted to show Henry that dolls can be fun too. We were living the lives of dolls. While I gave them a tour of the doll house, the schooled me on how this world's appliances work. I think-"

"No more doll stuff in the house." Regina pointed at the three of them. "No doll house, no cars, no shrinking, nothing. Understood?" They all nodded and hung their heads. Regina let our sigh of relief. "Good. Bed. Now. All of you. I thought something happened to you. Ugg don't do that again."

"Sorry mom. We didn't mean make you worry." Henry said as he hugged his mom. "I love you mom."

"I love you too, Henry."

 **xxx**

 **This chapter didn't turn out the I pictured it.. but I still like it. I may or may not change it a bit in the future. Anyway, I hope you all enjoined! ~SD!**


	4. Unlocking Magic

Chapter 4

"We're going to be in sooo much trouble if your mom catches us, Henry." Penny Jean whispered to Henry as the wondered through Regina's vault. You see it was completely dark in the underground tunnels. Regina normally kept the vault lit with her magic. Yes, there were candles, but the two things the preteens forgot were matches and backup batteries. It didn't bother Henry much, he was ok with being in dark places and adjusted according to his surroundings. He thought it made him heroic like, or something. Penelope Jean on the other hand hated the dark for the same reason Henry loved it. You never knew what was around the corner. Henry thought of like an exciting adventure, Penelope did not. Her mind drifted off to dangerous places. She had trouble controlling her imagination. The shadows seemed to grow larger in the dark and only when she blinked would they return to their original size, starting the whole process over again. She would think of all creatures that could possibly lurking from near by. Sometimes she would there was an invisible string attached to her back, connecting her with whatever was following her. Henry tried to tell her she was being silly, but she could physically feel the string and kept he constantly looking over her shoulder. She tried to think of happy music to keep her mind occupied, but she could only hear her rapidly progressing heartbeat. Suddenly a cold gust of air brushed past the two children, causing every hair on their body to stand straight. Penny stilled and grabbed onto Henry, forcing him to pause. "Henry I don't like it down here."

"Penny it's fine. It's just dark. Nothing down here can hurt is." Henry made an effort to sooth.

"Henry. The two _most powerful_ women in this town harbor all the things from their time as _evil villains_ down here. I don't believe you!" Penny reminded as she cleaned her glasses.

"It's going to be fine. Let me try the flashlight again." Henry turned Penny around and took hold of the electrical torch in the bottom of her backpack.

"If we die, I'm going to blame you." Penny mumbled.

"We're not going to die. I think I know what part of the vault we're in. If we keep going this way, we should reach where mom keeps her hearts."

"Why would I want to go hearts?"

"Because enchanted hearts glow. We be able to see. At least a litt-" Henry interrupted when the sound of heels clicking against stone floor started and it sounded like other was getting closer. Henry gasped. "Mom!"

"Thank goodness! We're saved!" Penelope cheered.

"No. This is bad my mom's going to _kill_ me."

"What are we going to do?"

"Run!"

The two children took off down the winding halls until they came to a stop at a fork.

"Which way?" Penny questioned.

"That way." A voice stated simply from behind. Henry and Penny shrieked as they nearly lept out of their skin. They tried to run, but a hand on each of their shoulders stopped them. They were forced to face the person. _What are you two doing down here!?"_ Regina practically growled. With a wave of her hand the vault was lit by dozens of candles. As I turns out the preteens were not heading towards if work in the hallway but it dead end instead. If the mayor had not found them they would have run into a wall.

"It was Henry's idea!" Penny pointed. "We wanted to learn magic, but Henry said you wouldn't teach us.."

"He's right. I will not under any circumstances teach either of you magic. Especially not after this stunt." Regina scolded.

"BUT MOM!"

"No buts Henry. You know the rules. You are not allowed in my vault. It is far too dangerous."

"But-"

"End of discussion."

 **xxx**

"Regina, are you sure grounding Henry was the right way to go?" Emma asked.

"Miss Swan, I love your concern for our son but Henry knows the rules and he also knows the consequences that come with breaking those rules." The mayor said as she continued her journey to her office.

"Yeah, but It's been a week and I had stuff planned for my week with him. And don't you think you should've talked to me about it first?"

" _Miss Swan_ , despite what you might think we are not married I do not have to run every little thing or decision I make by you." The mayor strolled into her office without even glancing at the sheriff.

"Regina." Emma sighed.

"Oh! Forgive me. Would you like to discuss what meal I plan on cooking Henry and his friend for dinner tonight or would you rather I just make a spreadsheet for the week?"

"Regina! What is up with you today?"

" _What is up_ with me is that I'm trying to figure out a way of detour your son and his friend from wanting to learn magic without him hating me.

"Henry doesn't hate you."

"I just don't want him corrupted by magic… like I was." The mayor slouched into her chair. She remembered how kind she was before magic corrupted her. "He's such a sweet kid. I just.. want him to… stay that way."

"Kid's growing up. We've gotta give the space to do so. If another magical threat comes to Storybrooke wouldn't you rather him be able to protect himself, then be vulnerable to attack. I mean, wouldn't be better he learn magic from you or someone we trust, then someone who will lead him down the wrong path." Emma suggested.

Regina let out a sigh and rolled her eyes. "I see your point Miss Swan. It _would_ be beneficial for him, both of them to, at the very least _understand_ magic… considering where they live. It would not be wise to have children apart of the most powerful family, living in a magical town and not know the basic principles of magic."

"Sooo does this mean he's not grounded any more?" Emma asked hopefully.

"Oh no. He's still grounded. _But_ only until tomorrow night. You can have him after that." The mayor spoke and tried to ignore the was the savior was fist pumping the air. "But…. Remember Henry is a package deal now. You want to spend time with him you have to spend time with _both_ of them. Have a nice day sheriff."

 **xxx**

 _Crrrrrr Radio static crrrrrr *PSST!*_ Emma's voice sounded over Henry's walkie-talkie. _*Hey kid.. crrrrrr You there?*_

Henry leapt from his bed and across Penny who was reading one of his comics on the floor.

"Emma's! Emma I'm here! Is operation 'Breakout' a go?" Henry spoke into his walkie.

 _*Yeah, but I was only able to get a few days off. You're still grounded until tomorrow night.*_

Henry slumped a little and nodded, then realized Emma couldn't see him. "It's fine. Actually, I'm surprised you were able to cut it at all! Grandmother Cora kinda got us in trouble earlier today."

 _*How?* crrzzz_

"That crazy old lady BLEW UP THE KITCHEN!!" Penelope reach over Henry's shoulder and yelled into the walkie-talkie.

 _Crrzzz *She WHAT!?*_

"Grandmother asked Penny and I to teach her how the things in the kitchen worked. She said she wanted to show mom how grateful she was to be back in her life by cooking her favorite meal from when she was a kid." Henry explained.

"We didn't know she was going to freak out at _every. Little. Thing._ We showed her." Penny butted in.

"The kitchen was on fire when mom came home from work." Henry continued.

 _*Wow kid. How'd you get out of that one?* crrzzz_

"Mom knew grandma did it and couldn't really ground us. _Again_. And she knows Grandma's magic is kinda unpredictable with her heart back."

"Children! Dinner!" Cora called from the bottom to the staircase.

"Emma we have to go. I'll see you when we get off of house arrest. Love you Emma." Henry spoke into his walkie-talkie.

 _Crrzzz *love you too kid.* crrzzz_

 **xxx**

"Hello children. How nice of you to finally join me." Cora smiled as the two walked into the dining room.

"Um… where's mom?" Henry asked as he and Penny took a seat at the table.

"Oh! Well, she had some mayor stuff to attend to in her office. She should be here in a bit. But don't worry she said we could start without her."

"Oh good.. I was afraid you were the one who coo-. Never mind." The young boy cut himself off.

"No no no. Please continue. I want to hear what you've have to say. Do you not think I can cook?" The ex-queen interrogated.

"Soooo. How was your day Ms. Cora?" Penny quickly changed topics. No one was ready to discuss the incident that occurred in the kitchen earlier that week.

"My day was fine. Quite boring, but it was an agreeable day. I don't know why my daughter has insisted that you to stay up in your room all week. What on earth did you two do?"

"Mom got mad because we broke into her vault." Henry mumbled.

"Why on earth would go and do something like that?"

"We wanted to learn magic." Penny explained.

"Regina won't teach you?" The preteens shook their heads. "Well, then… I'll teach you." Cora smiled.

"REALLY?!" The two children practically jumped out of their seats.

"Yes. Now if you hurry and finish eating, I can show the basics after dinner." The older brunette spoke in a hushed tone as her daughter approached the group.

 **xxx**

Lesson 1: Unlocking your magic.

"MAGIC is emotion. It feeds off your very nature." Cora starts. "I used to fuel my magic with hate and anger, but now that I have my heart back I find happiness works just fine."

"So we just think lovely thoughts… like Tinker Bell!" Penny smiled.

"Why on earth world you want to be anything like that simple-minded, excuse for a fairy?" Cora scoffed. "Number one rule when it comes to Magic, all-"

"All magic come at a price. Yeah, Yeah I know. I read the book." Henry sighed.

"Rule number 2: don't listen to anything Rumpelstiltskin says. The price is not always bad. Magic is like energy it can't be replaced or destroyed, but you have to get it from somewhere. Most magic users get their energy from the Earth and like the yin yang everything must be balanced. The more energy or magic we take, the more we have to give back."

"So what you're saying is the more magic we use the more energy we lose?" The young boy questioned.

"Magic makes us tired." Penny summarized.

"If done improperly." Cora corrected. "When magic is done _properly_ , you will back able to with the earth. You will learn the cycle of giving and taking so that neither you nor the Earth will become drained. We'll get to that later and I should ease but for now we're working on _unlocking_ your magic."

"How are we going to do that?" Penelope questioned.

Suddenly a thick purple smoke engulfed the. When is dissipated the children found themselves alone in a dark labyrinth. The halls were thinking and there was an echo of something dripping near by. The tunnels were so dark the Penny could barely see the floors in front of her.

"Ms. Cora?!" She yelled into the darkness. "Henry!?"

"Penny?!" Henry's voice sounded from the other side of the wall.

"Henry if don't like it in here. How do we get out?"

" _Children calm your nerves."_ Cora's voice sounded as if she were standing right next to the preteens. " _Now, you won't be able to see me because I'm not actually there. I'm still in my room at home. You are in a labyrinth I've created. All you have to is illuminate it. Even if you make the smallest form of light and you'll be transported back here with me._ "

After multiple failed attempts the children gave up. "Grandma Cora it's not working. I do this by myself all the time; it never works." Henry sighed. "Maybe we need to try something different."

Suddenly Cora's purple smoke appeared a few feet in front of Penelope Jean, revealing her 8 year old sister. She was almost the spitting image of Penny Jean, only she was shorter, younger, and had hair in two thick cornrows down the back of her head. Her clothing wasn't nearly as colorful as her older sister's. There was a deep ditch separating the siblings.

"Ramen Noodle?" Penny questioned softly.

"Penny!?" Her sister yelled.

"Carmen! Ramen Noodle is that you?!"

"Penny what's going on?! I'm scared!" Ramen yelled down the tunnel. She began to unknowingly wander closer to the crater in the ground.

" _Penelope dear, to help your sister you need light the tunnel. There is a bridge that will lead her to you, but the only way to see it is in the light."_

"W-what happens if I can do it?"

" _Then your sister falls_."

Penny looked over to her sister who slowly moved closer to the large ditch. She began panicking and tried to call out to her sister, but Ramen didn't even respond to the sound of her voice.

"Ms. Cora!! Ms. Cora please!! She's my little sister." Penny whimpered.

On the other side of the wall, Henry was trying his hardest to get to his friend on the other side. He tried clawing at the wall, kicking it, punching it. He even tried to blow it up with the magic he couldn't happen to.

"Penny! Penny! I'm going to help you." The young boy yelled to the other side of the wall, but Penny's cries for help could still be heard on the other side. "What did you do to her! What are you doing to my friend? Grandma!"

" _Sorry to disappoint, but I didn't do anything to your friend_." Cora's voice sounded nearby, but again she was nowhere to be seen. " _Grandson, I know you want to save your friend. There's a door hidden along the wall somewhere all you have to do is shine some form of light to access it._ " And with that she was gone.

 **xxx**

"Mother the uncharmings are here." Regina sassed as she walked into her mother's room followed by Snow, Emma, and David. Ever since Cora's heart was returned, Snow instilled mandatory, weekly visits. Snow and David wanted to make sure the ex-queens weren't secretly up to evil.

"You know these are highly unnecessary." Cora starts. "With my heart back, I hardly have an evil thought."

"Then what's that?" Emma points to the two screens on display behind Cora.

"Oh that!" The older brunette swiveled around and quickly glanced at the screens. Everyone watched as the kids continuously trying and failing to produce magic. "I'm just teaching the kids a bit of magic."

"What?!" The rest of the room gasped.

"Mother no. You cannot teach the children magic." Regina lectured. " _You_ are not allowed to use magic. It is far too unstable."

"Cora. What did you do to the kids?" Emma demanded as she took a step towards Cora.

"I created a simulation of sorts to jump-start the children's magical powers." The ex-queen explained proudly. "We all know magic is emotion and is most active when we are protecting the ones we love. I simply went into the children's subconscious to project who they want to protect the most. Henry just wants to protect his friend and the girl wants to protect her sister. It's sweet really."

"Cora this is madness. Let them out." Charming barked.

"But they're having fun."

"No. They are not. They're miserable in there." Snow joined. On Cue a frustrated screen sounded from one of Cora's monitors. Everyone in the room turned their attention second monitor that displayed Penelope Jean shaking on her knees.

"Cora. Get them out of their now!"

Before anyone could do or say anything about bright, light blue color flashed from both screens and engulfed the entire room in the light. When it dimmed, Henry and Penelope Jean were standing in the middle of the room.

"I DID IT! I HAVE MAGIC!!" Henry screamed and jumped around excitedly.

"Ramen Noodle! Where's my sister?!" Penny sputtered. "Is she ok?"

"She was never here dear." Cora explained. "She was simply an illusion to help spark your magic."

"I…. She… S-she's not here?"

"She is perfectly safe, back at home... wherever that is."

"Penny sweetie, are you ok?" Snow asked when to noticed the tears in the young girl's eyes. The girl nodded her hand and mumbled a "G'night" before she exited the room.

"Mother that was cruel-" "Cora you heartless witch-" Snow White and Regina started at the same time.

Cora looked taken back. "What! I've never been so insulted. How dare you. I jump started your magic. You should be thanking me." She pointed to Henry.

"Could everyone please leave so that I can have a word it has my mother?" Regina more demanded than asked. When no one moved she spoke again. "Alone." Henry and the Charmings shuffled out of the room leaving mother and daughter alone. Regina sighed, letting go of her angry demeanor. "Mother I know you are trying to find a balance between your emotions. Having your heart back you not only gained love, but every other feeling there is."

"Regina dear I'm trying."

"I know and I appreciate that, but… if you can't be a loving mother or grandmother, you could at least be able caring adult. Children, now a day especially, can't handle half of the stuff you put me through as a child. There were easier ways to unlock their magic and touch know it."

Cora sat on the edge of her bed regal as ever. "Some habits are harder to break."

"I'm well aware." Regina said as she sat next to her mother. "I just wish there was something I could do for Penelope Jean. As much as the child annoys the life out of me, she's grown on me. I would want to be reunited with my sister after something like that. It can't be easy for her."

"So you're saying that if… if you had a sister you would want to be reunited with her?"

"Of course."

They sat in silence for many moment. Regina couldn't tell what was going through her mother's head. She having her heart wasn't going to fix everything. Her mother was still her mother. How could she be so naïve? She let her mother near Henry. She trusted her mother with her only child. Yes, Cora made progress in becoming a civilized human being, but nothing changes overnight.

"I'm leaving." Cora stated, braking Regina from her thoughts.

"What? Leaving? Why? Mother is this because of-"

"There is just something I need to do. I don't know how long I'll be gone, but I will return. You know I love you dearly." Cora smiled and placed a hand on her daughter's cheek. Regina covered her mother's hand in return.

"I know. I love you too."

"I am going to need one of those magic beans. What I'm looking for is not in this land." The older women pulled away.

"What _are_ you looking for?"

"Hopefully, the missing piece to our second change…" Cora stood a took her daughter's hand pulling her up as well. "I'll be gone by morning, but I wish to say goodbye to my grandchildren."

"Penelope is not related to us." Regina corrected.

"If nothing else, I learned biology isn't what makes family, family. I'm going to say goodbye to my _grandchildren_ , then I'm going to pack my things." The older women smiled at her daughter. "I'll be back sooner than you think." With that Cora Exited the room.

Regina magical teleported two of the last three magic beans into palm. She looked down at them and sighed. Her mother was a piece of work, but she didn't want her to leave. She knew that when her mother had a goal set, nothing would stop her until she achieved it. Regina squeezed the beans in her hand ventured into the hall. She found her mother and the two children talking on Penny's bed.

"I'm really going to miss you Ms. Cora." Penny frowned.

"Me too." Henry agreed.

"I'll be back before you know it!" Cora smiled at the children and have them hugs before making towards where Regina stood at the door.

"Your magic beans." Regina placed the beans in her mother palm. "Two. One to get there and one to make sure you come back to us."

"I love you dear." Cora smiled as they gave each other one last hung.

"I love you too." Regina replied as she watched her mother retreat into her room.

"Mom?" Henry asked from his spot on Penny's bed. "Do you think you could use magic to find Penny's family?"

"Or at least call my mom?" Penny suggested.

"I think I can do that. Penny do you want to go home?" Regina approached the girl and kneeled in front of her. She placed an encouraging hand on her knee.

"I… no."

Henry and Regina couldn't hide the shock from their faces. Regina was sure the girl would want to return home after everything that happened. Henry on the other was relieved. It might have been selfish for feeling so, but he was relieved. He didn't want to loose the only friend he ever had.

"I just want to make that my family is ok. And I don't want them to worry about me. I really like here. There's magic here. _I have magic here_. I just… kinda miss my family." Penny explained.

"Well. I'm sure we can figure something out." The Queen smiled and gave Penny's knee a squeeze before standing up. "You two get to bed. Emma has a big week planed out for you. Good night."

 **Sorry for the chapter. It. Will. Get lighter. If you are reading this, thanks for sticking around. I have big plans for the next few episodes. Love to you all. SD.**


	5. I Don't Like Your Fiance

Chapter 5

Penny and Henry began magic lessons with Regina. After getting a hang of the basics they learned was how to create their own spells. Simple ones of course. Penny's first spell was to enchant her glasses so if she ever looses them they will float back to her, no matter where they are. It's helpful because about 89% of the time she doesn't know where her glasses are. The second spell she tried to create is prevent bugs or mosquitoes from biting her. It proved to be a more difficult task then she thought. She originally wanted to get rid of the bugs all together, but Regina explained to her that magic doesn't work like that. The first spell Henry created was to enchant all his books so that he can read them in the dark.

"Henry you made a boring spell." Penny teasing poked Henry. They were sitting at a table outside Granny's Dinner waiting for Neal to show up with his new fiancé. Neal wanted Henry to spend more time with Tamara so they could get to know each other better. Henry on the other hand hated Tamara. She gave him a bad feeling. He knew she didn't like him either, but all the adults in his life were insisting that they spend time together, that it will work out. Penelope Jean didn't like the woman either, but she knew that unless she was talking to Henry no one would listen to her. "We have magic now. We can do anything! As long as we can imagine it." Penny tried her best to brighten his mood, but Henry wasn't having it.

"Magic can't make someone fall on love." Henry mumbled. Henry had been hoping his mom and dad would get back together, but he had lost all hope when his dad introduced his fiance.

"Yeah, but-"

"Hey kid!" Neal smiled as he walked up to the children. "How's.. how's your week been?" He glanced an Penny every so often while he tried to converse with his son. "What um what is _she_ doing here?" Neal asked Henry.

" _I_ am here because I was told to be here." Penny spoke up before Henry could respond. "Ms. Regina says that Henry and I are a package deal now. If you want him, you get me too."

Neal decided his best option would be to ignore the child all together. Penelope noticed and did not take well to being deliberately ignored. "How about we grab a booth?" Neal suggested. The group made their way inside and sat in a booth closer to the back.

"So Henry, your dad tells me you have magic." Tamara said in a too sweet voice.

"Yeah what's it to ya." Henry mumbled without looking in her direction.

Neal shot Henry a look, but Henry wasn't paying attention to either of them. Neal gave an encouraging nod to Tamara to continue. "Having magic is pretty cool right?" She tried again.

A thought passed Henry's mind. He smiled brightly at his dad and his fiancé. He tapped on Penny's leg quickly three times. "Yeah. Magic is great! Mom's teaching Penny and I the basics. I even made my own spells…"

"Neal.. my glasses are not that good. I can't see the specials very well. Can you go with me to the counter?" Penny asked Neal as Henry continued to speak with Tamara.

"I ahh," Neal glanced at Henry and his girlfriend. They seemed to be getting on. They'll be fine without him, right? Of course. Besides if the quickest was to his son's heart was through his colorfully dressed best friend, then so be it. "Yeah sure. Hey, I'm going to the counter for a second. I'll be right back." He only got a nod in response. The others were too invested in their conversation.

The moment his dad and left Henry dropped his happy façade. He rested his hands on the table and leaned in close to the woman sitting across from him. "Look, I know you don't like me. I don't like you either. What I want to know is why you're here in Storybrooke pretending to love my dad."

Tamara's demeanor changed as well. She hunched forward and scowled at Henry. "Fine. You caught me. I needed your dad to lead me to Storybrooke so that I could find someone. But you're not going to tell anyone are? You wouldn't want anyone else to get hurt, like your friend over there."

"You're evil. Evil never wins. We will stop you and and…. Wait you said ' _else_ '. What did you do! Who did you hurt." Henry was standing now, well, as well as he could while he was still in the booth.

"How's your mom by the way?" Tamara smiled innocently.

Henry's face morphed into something of sheer terror. He grabbed his backpack, leapt from the booth, and dashed out the door.

The sound of Granny's door chime violently rigging attracted Penelope Jean attention. She turned her head just in time to see her friend dashing from the diner. "Henry!? Henry wait!" Penny calls after Henry, weaving through the patrons of the diner. Unfortunately for her, she tripped over a chair leg, spilling the contents of a Granny's to-go cup down the back of an angry Leroy. "I... I'm I'm sooo sooo sorry. I didn't mean-" She grabbed napkins off of a random table handed them to Leroy. "Here. Again, I'm so very sorry, but I've gotta go." With that, she chased after Henry. She found him across the street from the sheriff station. "Henry!"

Henry couldn't hear his friend calling out to him. He was focused. He had to make sure his mothers were ok. He ran into the sheriff station and didn't stop until she spotted the sheriff herself. "Mom! You're ok!"

"Yeah kid, I am. Why wouldn't I be?" A confused Emma wrapped her arms around the eleven year old boy who hugged as if he left her go she would disappear.

"Henry! Henry!" Penelope's voice could be heard echoing down the hall. "What is going on?" She questioned when she finally caught up to the two of them.

"Tamara." Henry growled. The two others tensed at the mention of her name. "She said that she hurt my mom…" Dread crept into Henry's features. "Mom."

"You ran to the wrong mom didn't you?" Penny observed. "Well than what are we waiting for? Let's go find her."

"Emma you have magic. Can you poof us to mom's office?" Henry asked Emma hopefully.

"I don't know kid. I haven't been training like you have."

"It's easy. Just imagine where you want us to go." Henry and Penny each grabbed one of Emma's hands. The encouragement she Emma received from the children gave her the strength she needed to access her magic. Three of them closed their tightly and when they opened them they were, still standing in the sheriff station.

"It didn't work." The eleven year old boy sighed.

"Don't worry kid. We'll find your mom." Emma said in an attempt to be positive. "Remember finding people is what I do."

xxx

Henry, Penelope, Emma, and the Charmings were currently sitting in Mary Margaret's loft. It was nearing midnight and the still hadn't found Regina. They checked her office, her house, her vault, and even asked around the town. She was no where to be found. Snow suggested that they take a break from looking and try again in the morning after a good night's sleep. The children insisted that they were not tired, but their constant yawns and droopy eyes gave them away. They were out moment they sat on the couch. The adults took the moment to ask Gold for help. He cursed at them for coming at such a late hour, but helped them anyway. He gave them a locator spell. Emma poured the bottle's contents on to one of Regina's heels they found abandoned under her office desk. Emma couldn't imagine how the mayor could walk in these. They didn't lack style, but look incredibly uncomfortable. _Regina was the mayor, why the hell does she need to where heals this high?_

A sudden gust of cold air brought Emma out of her thoughts and onto the floating shoe ahead. _Why did Maine have to be so cold? Regina couldn't have picked a warmer place to cast her curse? Like Hawaii. Or Florida. Hell she could've cursed everyone to work at Disneyland and dressed them up like the cartoon characters. That would've been hilarious. Emma pay attention! You're supposed to be finding Regina! Cuz' I'm the savior… does that make me princess Charming? Hehehe… that makes Regina, Snow White. Hehehe… she would hate that._ Emma sighed to herself. "I really need to get some sleep."

Emma and David followed the shoe to the docks. There were flashes of light and yelling coming from the building the shoe was leading them to. The pair pulled their guns out of their holster and held them at a ready position. Emma gave David a signal to look for another exit. The yelling grew more constant as Emma approached the door. She couldn't make out what was being said, but she recognized who some of the voices belonged to. That new guy, Greg Mendel, Hook, and Regina. There was another voice, but Emma couldn't hear it all that well over the others. A loud crash from the other side launched Emma into action. She kicked down the door ready for a fight, but besides the machines, Regina was the only one in the room. Regina was tied to a chair in front of a large projector that was playing Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It took everything in Emma not to laugh. She made her way over where Regina was tied in the middle of the room.

" _Your majesty_." Emma bowed in front of the scowling woman. "I believe you require a Savior?"

"Ms. Swan, get me the hell out of this chair!"

"You'd think one would be more grateful. I came here to save _your_ ass."

"Get. Me. Out. Of. Here. NOW!!" The queen demanded, pulling on her bindings for emphasis.

Emma rolled her eyes, but helped the queen all the same. Gun shots from the other room halted her motions. Emma picked up her gun and ran in to the hallway. There was a lot going on. Neal was fighting with Tamara, Greg Mendel was on the ground, whether he was dead or not Emma couldn't tell, and Hook and David were both a gunpoint. Emma assumed Neal could hold his own and snuck up behind Hook. She pocketed her gun and grabbed a random, metal pipe from the floor. Before either men could fire their weapons, Emma bashed Hook on the head with the pipe and watched him drop to the ground.

"Emma!" David looked relieved. "Did you find Regina? It she ok?"

"Yeah, yeah." Emma assured. "She's fine. I think."

"You think?" David frowned as he cuffed hook.

"David! David!" Neal yelled from the other side of the hall. "They got away!"

"Who?"

"Tamara and Greg! They got away." Neal jogged towards them. "What are we going to do?"

"Thanks for nothing Ms. Swan!" Regina growled as she stumbled out the room. She limped towards the group barefoot. "They have the diamond. If they activate it, it will destroy Storybrooke. But I can't do anything to stop them with _this_ ," She motion to the cuff in her wrist. " _Thing_ on. I need one of you to take it off."

"What's this diamond thing? And why do Greg and Tamara have it?" David questioned.

"I'll explained everything later, but," Regina paused, giving the giggling Emma Swan time to calm down. "If you are done Ms. Sw-" She couldn't finish the rest of the statement before Emma started laughing again. "Ms. Swan! _What_ is so funny?"

"Nothing, I just never realized that I was taller than you." Emma admitted. Soon Neal and David joined in on her giggling.

"If I had my magic I'd burn all three of you to a crisp. Those hideous boots you insist on wearing give you an extra 3 inches."

"Wait, what? You don't have your magic? What did they do to you?" Emma worried.

"If you boneheads would listen, you'd know. We don't have much time, so let me brake it down. Long story short, Greg holds a grudge from something I did a long time ago and now he and his girlfriend want to destroy all magic. This cuff blocks all my magic and it makes me weak. That's how they kidnapped me. That diamond will destroy all magic in Storybrooke, including the town its self. Greg and Tamara are most likely at the mines. They need a pickaxe to activate the failsafe. I can transport us there but I need my magic."

"Regina you need to go home and rest. Emma, Neal, and I can go to the mines." David frowned.

"72 hours of nonstop Snow White and the Seven flippn' Dwarfs, songs by some artist named just a beaver, and electrocution are not going to stop me. They'd need to try a lot harder than that." The Queen disclosed. "Now, someone take this damn cuff off of me."

"You don't even have shoes on."

"I can magic them on to my feet. As long as I know where they are I can move them, like my favorite Alexander McQueen horn heeled pumps that are sitting under my desk."

Emma and David nervously looked to each other before looking at the queen. "I kind of lost one of your heels." Emma stammered.

"You what." The Queen spoke low and calmly.

"I.. I mean we, David and I, needed it to find you. I dropped it somewhere outside when I heard yelling. I was busy saving you."

"Oh no Ms. Swan. You're not getting out of this that easily. THOSE WERE MY FAVORITE SHOES!! What am I supposed to wear now?!"

"Your second favorite pair." Neal mumbled under his breathe.

xxx

"Penny wake-up." Henry nudged his sleeping friend's shoulder.

"Do I have to?" Penny wined, rolling away from Henry.

"Yes. Emma and David are missing and I think someone is trying to break in." Henry pointed to the jiggling front door. That got her attention.

Penny quickly sat up and grabbed onto Henry. "What do we do? Where's Mary Margaret? We need weapons." She tried to leap off the couch, but got tangled in blankets that weren't there before and hit her chin on the coffee table.

"Penny are you ok?" Henry helped his friend off of the ground and untangle herself. The front began to jiggle violently. "We need to hide." Henry urged.

"Under the bed. Upstairs."

Henry and Penny Jean quickly tiptoed past the door and up the metal stairs. They crawled under Emma's messy bed. They listened as the front door finally opened.

"Where's the kid? We need to be out by sunrise." One of the voices echoed from lower floor.

"Search the place. The brat couldn't've gotten far. You check the main floor; I'll check upstairs." A familiar voice responded.

"Tamara." Henry growled lowly. "I knew she couldn't be trusted." Penny didn't let him finish his rant. She covered his mouth the best she could in the claustrophobic area. They watched the shadows of Tamara's shoes edged closer to where they were hiding. The preteens held their breath when she stopped right in front of them. She mumbled a few choice words that were not meant for the ears of children. The kids light out a sigh of relief when the feet retreated back to the door.

"GOTCHA!" Tamara yelled, popping her under the bed.

Penny and Henry screamed trying to get away from her, but they were trapped. Tamara dragged the two from under the bed and held onto the neck of their clothing giving them little room to move and breathe.

"What are going to do with us?" Henry wheezed.

"We've had a change of plans. Instead of blowing up Storybrooke, the boss wants us to take you back to headquarters with us."

"Where's that?"

"Neverland." Tamara sneered as she shoved the children forward, forcing them to walk. "I got them Greg. Call headquarters and let them know we're on our way."

"We can't take both of them." Greg dismissed, walking towards his partner. "The boss only wanted the boy."

Tamara rolled her eyes and shoved Penelope into the arms of her partner. "Fine then. Go lock her in the bathroom. We can't have her blabbing and ruining our plans. We need to be quick. The boss will be expecting us soon."

It wasn't long before Penny was locked into the bathroom and left in the loft alone. Penelope Jean didn't think of herself as super smart, but she held on to a steady 'A'-'B' average during school. She might be a little slow when it came to picking up stuff or remembering crucial information, like she and Henry both possessed magical abilities. That could have really helped them out thirty minutes ago.

Penny mentally slapped herself. How can you forget something like having magic? She took a breath and willed her magic to come forth. _Please work. Please work. Please work_. The young girl was halfway through the bathroom window when a mix of something metal and plastic hit her on the head. She looked up to see Henry's walkie-talkie floating a few inches from her face.

"It worked!" Penny celebrated and quickly grabbed the device. "Ok. Imagine where you want to be and your magic will take to there. See it in your mind." Penny opened her eyes to Mary Margaret's destroyed loft. She winced as she took in the mess. Maybe she could clean it with magic? Penny glanced at the digital clock above the stove. 4:52 am. Thirty-six minutes until sunrise. The mess will have to wait til' later. She could do that after she saved Henry.

xxx

 _Crrzzz *Golden goose! Come in Golden goose!*_ Emma's walkie-talkie sounded loudly, startling the group in the mines. _Crrzzz *They have Henry! I repeat, they have Henry!! Come in Emma!!*_

Emma, Charming, Neal, and Regina froze causing the not so little, pig deputies to bump into them. The four looked as if their blood drained completely from their bodies.

"Who… Who have Henry?" Emma's voice shook as she spoke to the walkie-talkie.

 _Crrzzz *EMMA!!*_ The walkie screeched. _*It was Tamara and some guy! They're taking him to Neverland!!*_ There was a pause. _*I'm going after them.*_ Crrzzz

"No!" All of the adults screamed at once.

"We have to do something." David pounced his fist on the tunnel wall. "Where's Snow? She should be with them.

"Hey Penny? Where's Snow?" Asked into the radio.

 _Crrzzz *Huh?*_

"Mary Margaret. Where is she? Is she with you?"

 _*uh I don't know. I haven't seen her since, like a long time ago. She wasn't there when we woke up.* crrzzz *I gotta go. I think I found them.*_

"Wait Penny! Where are you?!" No response came from the walkie-talkie. The group let of frustrated grumbles.

"Don't worry I've got this." Regina waved and one of Penelope Jean's sequence suspenders appeared in her hand. "Ta da!"

"Regina, what are we supposed to do with that. We need to save Henry, not play dress up." Emma snatched the article of clothing away from the brunette, before throwing it to the ground. Regina swore she heard her growl.

"Thank you Ms. Swan for that outwardly show of aggression." The mayor picked the suspenders from the ground. "Since your son has the habit of running away, I put a tracking device in all of the children's clothing. All I have to do is activate one of them and I'll know where they are." She waved her hand over the suspenders and the began to glow a soft purple.

"So, where are they?" David asked anxiously.

"Looks like we're going back to the docks."

xxx

The queen, the savior, Prince Charming, Neal, and the tree not so little pigs watched as the eleven year old girl standing on the edge of the dock lifted her hand readying to throw something in the water. She had on two large backpacks. How she managed to get them both on, remains a mystery.

"What's she got in her hand?" Charming edged closer the girl.

"A magic bean!" Gasped Snow White from somewhere behind the group. "No! Stop!" She cried out to the little girl. Unfortunately the shout startled Penny causing her loose her footing and slipping off the dock.

"Good going _Snow White_." The Queen sneered.

"I.. I didn't mean to…" Show said still in a state of shock.

"She's ok!" David called from where he and Emma stood at the edge of the dock. As it turns out Penelope Jean never fell into the water. She simply held onto the edge with one hand while the magic bean was tucked securely in the other. The two helped to girl up.

"What we're you thinking! You could have been seriously injured!" Emma scolded.

"They took Henry!" Penny argued. "I wanted to save him. He's the only friend I have here."

"And we will kid. We'll get him back, but we need a plan."

"Oi! I hear you need passage across the seven seas? I can be of assistance." Hook slurred as he approached the group. "Why so shocked luv? Can't keep a pirate captain like me chained down for long. But I'll be willing to forgive this farce and aid you in your quest to finding the young lad, _if_ you be so kind as to set me only hand free." Hook waved his cuffed hand in front of Emma's face.

"No deal." David shoved Hook away from his daughter.

"Wait, David. Maybe he can help us find Henry." Emma stepped in. "Peter Pan, Captain Hook, he should know how to find his way around Neverland. Right?"

"Aye! Listen to your daughter mate." Hook tapped his hook on David's chest.

"I'm not your _mate_ , Captain." David slapped the hook away from, but released the pirate's cuffed hand anyway.

"Alright." Hook nodded. "Let's set sail. The Jolly Roger is this way. The queen-" He paused to look at Regina. "The _other_ queen cloaked my ship so that no one would find it. Right this way."

David held his arms out, stopping the three not so little pigs from following. "You three should stay here. We will need some to look after the town while we are gone."

"Of course sheriff." Nodded Austin Boar, the eldest of the three.

"Thank you. I knew I could count on you." David waved before he joined his daughter and the pirate captain on to the ship. The last one to board the ship was Penelope Jean lugging both of her large backpacks.

"You can't come with us." Snow stopped the girl from coming any further onto the ship.

"What!? Why?" Penny whined.

"Because you're-"

"Because you're clumsy! You're clumsy ok?! You are too young and you'll just get in the way." Charming blurted.

"David!" Snow snapped at her husband.

"Sorry Snow, but one can only take repairing so many holes in the walls!"

"But there are no walls in Neverland! I promise I'll be careful. Nobody knows Henry like I do!" Penny argued. Henry's mothers made disagreeing noises, but she ignored them. "I have the magic bean. How are you going to get there without me?"

"Thanks for that lass." Hook plucked to bean from Penelope's raised hand and made his way towards the ships wheel. "Next stop, Neverland."

"This isn't fair!" Penny continued to complain. "I have magic! I can help!"

"You're gonna have to sit this one out kid." Emma smiled down sadly at the girl. She gave her a pat on the shoulder before pushing her towards the exit.

xxx

The ride to Neverland was a rough one, yet the Jolly Roger and its crew managed to make in one piece. Naturally with all the history and different personalities among the crew there were many fights along the way. Verbal fights, magical fights, physical fights. No one seemed to be getting along and in slowing down their journey. The only time any of the stopped arguing was when Hook shouted "Land ahead!"

"Ok we need a game plan." Emma began. "Hook's ship is still cloaked, so the won't see us coming. We have the element of surprise."

" _But_ we need a plan of action or all of that will be a waste." Charming added.

"Aye." Hook agreed as he approached the group. "We're coming in on the north side of the island. I'll getting us as close as we can to Pan's headquarters without being easily detected. It's approximately a mile's walk from the ship to his camp."

"Ok. That seems easy enough." Mary Margaret smiled over at Emma, but only received a roll of the eyes from her daughter.

"Not entirely true." The pirate explained. "We have to pass through mermaid lagoon in order to that rat's camp."

"Ok, so what's wrong with that? Aren't mermaids like…. Good?" Emma shrugged.

"Not on this island lass. They are a very jealous creature. Like seers, you never see it coming."

"Ok, so what do we do?" Charming asked.

"We can't let the creatures see the women."

"What? Why not?" Snow put her hands on her himself and raised an eyebrow.

"They can't see us together. It will set them off. We don't have much time to argue. We're coming into port." Hook rushed back to the wheel trying steady the ship. "Hold on to something, the sea gets a little rough closer to shore."

Everyone to hold of something in just enough time before any giant wave came a nearly knocked everyone off their feet. There was a rough tumbling sound, then a loud crash that came from below deck.

"What the bloody ell was that?" Cursed hook.

It didn't take long for the to find out. The door to the rooms below deck slowly began open revealing and 11 year old Penelope Jean. "Did we make it to Neverland yet?"

 **XXX**

 **Sorry. There were a ton of typos in the original post, but i've fixed the ones that I saw. I hope it makes it better. The next chapter will be coming soon! SD**


	6. Magic Tag

Chapter 6 Magic Tag

It took a while but Penelope was able to convince the adults to let join them in their quest to save Henry. Penny felt like she had the advantage. She was still a kid, meaning she knew the way other children thought and Neverland was ruled by the Lost Boys in all of the stories. She figured the ' _Boss_ ' was actually Peter Pan and that he was still a kid, hopefully. Hook said that Pan was a menace that couldn't be outsmarted. Well maybe that's because he was thinking like an adult playing kid games.

Their first 3 attempts to save Henry failed. Hook and David came up with the first plan. it was to sneak in and just grab him, but Greg and Tamara stopped them way before they even find the camp. Emma came up with the second and ended crying about being an orphan. Regina came up with the last. Her plan was to simply cheat and David ended up being cut with dreamshade. Unlike what everyone thought, dreamshade only makes people sleep, not die... David ended up taking a two day nap. They got closer each time, but always fell short in the end. Penny tried to point out the flaws with each plan, but none of the adults would listen to her. Everyone was getting frustrated. The temperature was hot and humid, the island was always dark and at night it would only get darker. Penny hated it. She was afraid of the dark and the creatures in it. The ghost stories Hook, David, and Neal told around the fire at night didn't help. She just wanted to take Henry and get off the island as soon as she could.

"Uggh!! That's not going to work!!" Penelope screamed at the adults. Everyone was stunned into silence at the child's outburst. She had been unusually quiet the entire trip, but she had enough. The adults were going about all the wrong way. "You're thinking like adults. We are on Neverland. This place in ruled by children." None of the seem to understand what she was talking about so she continued.

"It's a game. We're are playing a game. Ms. Emma when Pan gave you that map, he was inviting you to a game of hide-and-seek not trying to get you to open up about your emotions. _You_ created the rule that said you can't see that map until you say you're a lost girl. All you had to do was use your imagination and no matter what you created the map would have taken us to Henry. I told you that, BUT _NO ONE_ LISTENS TO ME!! Haven't you noticed the magic is different here?!?!" Penny was breathing hard now, but she was on a roll and couldn't bring herself to stop. "The only we will save Henry is if you use your imagination. A tiger with a monkey on its back came into the camp last night and _NO ONE SAID ANYTHING_!!!" Once the rage and adrenaline die down Penny snapback to reality. "Wait. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell." She put her hands up and shrunk back when Emma took a step towards her.

"Ok. You want to take the lead then do it." Emma pointed.

"Wait… for real?" Penny asked cautiously. All of the adults nodded. "Ok. I have a plan but you have to trust me." She sat on a log and began to absentmindedly drawing in the dirt with a stick. The rest of the group gathered around the girl to she what she was making. It was Mickey Mouse. She was doodling Mickey Mouse in the ground. "They give us games to play and we have to play by _their_ rules. What we have to do is bring a game to them so that they're playing on _our_ rules."

"Ok. What's do we need to do?" Tinker Bell asked. They found her a few days ago in a tree house covered in snakes and spiders. She's been with them since.

"First: No more scary stories. The imagination on this island is very strong. Meaning most of your monsters are probably hiding in the forest somewhere." Penny shrugged. "Second: You _must_ use your imagination. If you don't we will fail. I realize that once you tap it in your imagination, you can see what everybody else sees in their imagination."

"Pfft. Yeah right." Hook scuffed. "I've lived on this island for years. What makes you think _you_ can defeat Pan. Why would your plan work better than anyone else's?Do you _really_ think any of this is going to work?"

"Um i…" Penny was thrown off of her game for a second, but she was not going to let Hook intimidate her. "Actually yes. Remember we crashed the Lost Boys camp and the came at us with swords? Well their weapons were actually wooden. We're children we don't play with _real_ weapons, that's not fun. This way we can keep playing after we get stabbed."

"Wait I'm a bit confused." Neal started. "Wouldn't that mean we _are_ using or imagination. Since we saw the swords as metal and not wood."

"Not really. The Lost Boys let you see what they _want_ you to see. We retreated because they had weapons and we didn't. They won because they make all the rules. But _we_ can win. You need to know how to play the game."

Regina raised an eyebrow and smirked that the young girl. "So what's your genius plan?"

"I just need you all to get me close enough to one of the lost boys to touch them."

Their plan was running smoothly. Penny magically created navy blue cloaks that, to Regina's knowledge, did absolutely nothing. Everyone has to pretend as if they were invisible to the rest of the world. Cloak rules were anyone else wearing a cloak can see you. Anything sticking outside of the cloak is visible. Regina can't remember her childhood games having so many rules. Then again, she never had friends to play with or a childhood. It seemed every time Penelope Jean or one of the lost boys added to or changed the rules in any way, all the other kids some how knew.

The young girl continued to surprise her by showing off a new magical trick she taught herself or picked up by watching those around her. She could do things even Regina couldn't do. Though she will admit she practiced in dark magic fueled on anger and sadness rather imagination and love. Penny was proving to be more magically advanced than Regina ever was she first started learning. The girl was smarter than any of them ever gave her credit for. She guesses it was hard to notice when the preteen was so clumsy.

Regina could never imagine working along side her worst enemies. Of course she still hated Snow, Charming was still annoying, the dark one's offspring was more of a idiot than Captain Guyliner. Some how they managed to work together. Anything really was possible on Neverland. Focus Regina. You need to get Penelope close enough to one of the lost boys so that she can do _whatever_ it is she's doing. The group scurried after the young girl around the lost boys camp. David gave Tinker Bell gave thumbs from the opposite side of the camp, which meant it was safe to start a diversion. Tink quickly stripped of her cloak and began running and singing 'Part of Your World' as loud as she could.

"Hey! Get her!" One of the older lost boys shouted. A group of boys ran after Tinker Bell, but they still had half of the boys to still deal with.

"Oi lads!" Hook greeted from the top of one of their forts.

"Hey get down from there!" A younger boy ran up to Hook, waving a long stick.

"Don't just stand there!" The older boy waved at the younger lost boys. "Get him!" The rest of the boys went after Hook.

One of Snow's bird friends landed on Regina's shoulder. That was the signal to let her know that Penny Jean was in place. She spotted where the young girl was standing and used her magic to immobilize the older lost boy. Regina hoped Penny was quick because she wouldn't be able to hold him for long.

Penelope ripped off her cloak began towards the lost boys, but stopped short when someone let out a loud squawking sound. Stood outside the largest tree house was none other than Peter Pan himself. There were two others standing next to him, Felix and a shorter boy. Penny's glasses were foggy from the humidity on the island. She couldn't quite make out who it was. She squinted to try and get a better view and gasped. Henry. She must have been too loud. The older lost boy turned very slowly in her direction. Regina's magic must have been wearing off. Penny didn't waste time and launched herself at the lost boy. She smacked her hand to the middle of his chest and smiled wickedly. "Tag. You're it." Penny quickly lept away from the boy before adding. "And no tag backs!"

"Run boys! Every man for himself!" Peter ran from the tree hut leaving Henry and Felix behind.

In a matter of seconds Neverland went to chaos, with children screaming trying to get away from ' _It_ '. In all the ruckus the group managed to get separated, but the only person Penny wanted to find was Henry. With all the running it was hard to tell who was it. 'The _It_ ' bounced from kid to kid in a rapid manner.

"He's coming!" A lost boy ran past her yelling warnings. "He's _It_."

Penny Jean began running faster in a panic. No one was safe. She needed a place to hide. She couldn't keep going like this. Then she saw him. Henry. He was standing the top of a small hill smiling. She smiled back and began running towards her friend. She only made it a few steps before the world suddenly faded as a hand pushed into her back. _IT_. Penny couldn't tell if she screamed or not. She couldn't hear and everything around her seemed to move in slow motion. The last the she remembered seeing was Henry's worried face before the shadow took over.

She wasn't afraid of much. Her life taught her that she needed to be tough in order to survive. But her heart continued to beat wildly, there was sweat beading on her forehead, and her hands wouldn't stop trembling. It was save to say Emma was scared. This was the wildest game of tag she'd ever seen. It was deadly. She didn't understand the rules. Everything was so unpredictable here. Emma couldn't control the game like the kids could and that's what scared her the most. She wanted to cry. She didn't remember the games ever being like this. She just kept running along with everyone else. A blood curling screamed stopped Emma in her path. Snapping her attention to her right, she watched as Henry sprinted towards a falling Penny Jean.

Emma ran towards her son and his fallen friend. When she got close enough, she tackled Henry into a bear hug. "Henry I was so worried! Are you ok?" Emma cried.

"Ma! I'm fine." Henry tried to wiggle from his mother's grasp. "Ma, Penny! Penny wake-up." The two watched as Penelope Jean started to come to. She blinked slowly and rubbed her head.

"What Happened?" Penny sat up looking at bit dazed.

"Penny!" Henry went to hug his friend, but was quickly stopped.

"No! Don't. Touch me." Penny frowned. "I'm it."

Emma gasped and put some distance between the two of them.

"I'm not going to tag you two!"

"Let's stay calm. Kids get tagged all the time. You just need to find a boy to tag and you'll be free. Simple." Henry rationalized.

"Yeah, simple." Penny half heartedly replied. "Who am I going to tag?"

"There!" Henry pointed to a lost boy not far ahead.

Penny ran and tagged the boy from behind, but instead of passing the " _IT_ ", the boy was covered in a thin layer of ice, unable to move. She gasped and jumped back. Penny looked at Henry in horror as they both came to the same conclusion. _Freeze Tag_. "Now what?"

"Some one needs to be frozen three times before they be come it." Henry stated.

"I know how freeze tag works." Penny Jean rolled her eyes. "Unfreeze him."

"Are you sure?"

"How am I supposed to freeze him three times if he never gets unfrozen?"

Henry and Penny eventually passed the tag to one of the lost boys. But what they didn't realize was that, the longer they played the more the game involved. They were using water balloons to freeze people. Some were throwing water balloons even if they weren't it. Now there was a balloon fight on top of freeze tag.

Penelope Jean had to update her wardrobe. She had an ammunition belt around her waist and across her chest filled with water balloons. With a wave of her hand everyone that arrived to Neverland with her or helped save Henry were also loaded with water weapons. David, Emma, and Neal seem to be in their element. Emma had two fully loaded, water guns in her hand, two at her waist, and a water balloon ammo belt across her chest. Her father and Ex sported a similar wear. All three easy of them charged head first into battle.

Snow and Tinker Bell took over one of the lost boys tree forts and began bombing the children from above.

Hook and Regina were with Henry and Penny Jean out on the field. The war had gotten out of hand. There was something much water flying around you could barely see in front of you. Penny and Henry watched in horror as their friends were brought down by water balloons. Snow was hit so hard, she fell off the balcony of tree house. Luckily David was there to catch her. Emma and Neal took pride in being the ones to take Greg and Tamara out of the game. Tink was out. Hook was out. Half of the lost boys were out, but there were still too many of them. Suddenly a water balloon flew straight towards Penny. She only noticed at the last second. She could've easily blocked it, but before she could, Regina jumped in front and took the hit for herself.

"Nooooo!!!" Penny and Henry dropped their knees beside her. "Why? How could you do this? I thought you didn't like me." Penny cried.

Regina winced as she turned towards Penelope Jean. "I didn't at first, but I have to say you've grown on me." She smiled weakly.

"But I need you." Henry sobbing now. "You can't leave." He grabbed her weak hand held it to his chest.

"Oh, my sweet little prince. You've grown into a strong, brave knight. You don't need me anymore. Protect your- _cough cough_ mother. And always know that I cough love-" Regina's last words were left unsaid as her hand slipped from Henry's.

"I love you too mom. I will avenge you." Henry declared as he stood. Penny saw that look in his eye. He was going to go into battle like a mad man. There was no way the could win the war like this.

"Henry, I have an idea that will end this war once and for all. But you gotta trust me."

Penny stood on the balcony of the largest tree house. She squawked loudly causing everyone to immediately stop what they were doing. When she was sure she had everyone's attention, she began. "Everyone knows that whoever gets a kiss from a girl wins the game. I am a girl. _And_ I have a kiss. Who ever I give the kiss to wins!" Penny held up the small, cone-shaped chocolate wrapped in a silver foil. "So who's gonna get the kiss?"

A loud eruption of lost boys shouting for the kiss filled the island, water balloons completely forgotten. And then it was a race see who could get to the top of the tree house first. Of course it was Henry. They had the entire thing planned, of course Pan and the lost boys didn't need to know that.

"Henry wins!!!" Penelope shouted. "As his reward for winning, he gets to go home with his family! And you guys can't the kidnap him again! Ever!" Numerous, disappointed groans came from the sea of lost boys, but to the preteens' surprise they began clapping and cheering.

"Good game!!" Some of them shouted.

"Let's play again!" Another cheered.

All of the adults found their way to the you boy and girl, who were weaving through lost boys. They paraded all the way back to Hooks ship. Penny and Henry were embracing all of the love the lost boys were giving.

"Why are you all so happy? You lost." Henry finally asked one of the lost boys.

"You beat Pan! No ones ever done that before! Don't you get it? You two are the new rulers of Neverland!!" John Darling cheered.

"Really! Wait. Does that mean we have to stay here?"

"No. Neverland is apart of you now. You two have the magic of Neverland. Pan and Felix abused the power. They made the island dark, the mermaids mean, and locked Wendy up. They are the ones who invented cooties!"

Penny grabbed on to Henry's arms in a state of shock. "No!"

"Yes!" John insisted. "But you can fix that now. All you have to do is believe and Neverland will be restored to its former glory."

A determined Henry and Penny Jean nodded. They held on to each other and closed their eyes. A surge of magic burst from the two children and across the entire Island. When they opened their eyes the island was transformed. The sun was back! It was still hot on the island, but it wasn't uncomfortable like other was before. There were fairies flying around and happy mermaids in the lagoon. The forest was a brilliant green. The sky and ocean were so blue it hypnotizing you could stare for hours. A strong vibrant double rainbow burst from the ocean and wrapped around the island like a hug. Powerful energy surged through all of the children like a breath of fresh air, pulling a smile from each of their lips.

Henry's parents and grandparents stood in awe of the islands transformation and the surprise turn of events. They watched as a group of fairies flew in a rested crowns on top of Henry and Penny Jean's heads. The island of children and magical creatures let out proud cheers and hoots. And they didn't stop when 4 lost boys dragged in a tied up Peter Pan and Felix.

"Creepy, monkey faced boy." Penny growled as they passed her on their way to the ship.

"I think he's kinda cute." Noted Wendy.

"Are you blind?! He looks like a rat!" Penny looked disgusted. "I bet he still has cooties."

"He does." John confirmed. "Hey a couple of us were wondering if some of us could go back with you. To Storybrooke. We know that our parents probably won't be there, but… Henry told us how great it was and…" John trailed off.

"Of course!!" Henry yelled.

"Really?!"

"Yeah! Ms. Gina's house is huge!" Penny adjusted the lopsided crown on her head. "There's plenty of room. I'm sure she won't mind. Right Henry?"

"Yeah totally. We all might want to get on the ship before all the adults leave us." Henry leads Penny, Wendy, and five other lost boys on to the boat. Once everyone was on the chanting began.

"LONG LIVE KING HENRY!!"

"LOOLOOOLOOOLOOOLOOLOO!!

"LONG LIVE QUEEN PENELOPE JEAN!!"

"LOOLOOLOOLOOLOOLOOLOOLOO!!!"

"On ward to Storybrooke!!" Hook yelled.

"LOOLOOLOOLOOLOOLOOO!!"

 **XXX**

 **Ok. So, yeah. This chapter was a little weird... hahaha. Good lol. I hope you all enjoined. Let me know what you think will happen next. SD**


	7. Welcome to Storybrooke

**It's been absolutely forever since I last updated! I really wanted to get something out I'm happy I could do it on my Birthday! For anyone who's still reading, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 7**

 **Welcome to Storybrooke**

The great Jolly Roger sailed across the blue horizon. Of the sky. Henry, with the help of the lost children, managed to get the ship in the air. They had already used the last magic bean, so they decided to used some of Neverland's magic to get them home.

"The Jolly Roger beautiful, strong vessel, but she's getting up there with age. All this air travel is wearing her down. She was meant to be in the sea, not the sky." Hook explained to the young children he was teach to sail. "We'll have to fix her up a bit when we hit the mainland."

"I don't see why we didn't just use a magic bean like we did last time." Penny voiced.

"The reason, young lass, is because we don't have one."

"What are you talking about?" Penny reached into her bag and pulled out a pouch. "I have a bag full of them."

Everyone on the Jolly Roger froze.

"What?"

"You had a bag _full_ of magic beans and you didn't think to say something!?" Emma shouted from her spot on deck.

"Nobody asked," Penelope defended before admitting. "And I forgot I had them."

"Where's did you even get all of those? I thought Regina and her mother burned all of them."

"I… uh stole them from a field a while back. Then I planted them in Henry's backyard because I wanted to grow a beanstalk. But instead I just grew more beans. I have a whole garden of them actually."

"You've been growing magic beans in my backyard, under my nose this entire time?" Regina took a step towards Penelope Jean.

"Yeah. I have an entire vegetable garden." Penny shrugged. "With cucumbers, broccoli, spinach, strawberries, wild berries, green beans, and collard greens."

"Penny that's awesome!" Henry jumped.

"I also grow lettuce and sunflowers. The flowers haven't grown up yet. But we've been gone for awhile, so maybe they're big now."

"Why is this the first time I'm hearing about any of this?" The queen folded her arms and raised an eyebrow.

"You didn't ask?" Penny tried.

"Nice try. Is there anything else you've done to my house that I should know about?"

"Umm ah.." Penny thought about the tunnels she and Henry built within the mansion walls and they transformed the entire basement into their hangout space. She shared a look with her friend, before shaking her head. "Nope. That's it. Nothing else to worry about." Penny looked around the boat for something to distract the adults' attention away from her. It wasn't long before she spotted the best thing she'd seen in weeks. Or was it only days? Maybe they'd been on Neverland for years! Time does work differently there. "LOOK! We're home!"

"Finally I can get a shower." Emma sighed as she and everyone else leaned over the side of the ship to get a view of Storybrooke.

"Oi! All year landlubbers get off me ship. She needs repairing and unless you're here to assist, we no longer indebted to each other. Everyone quickly made their way off of the ship and down main street.

"It feels good to be back. I wonder how much as changed since we left." Henry smiled and linked his arm with Penny Jean's.

"Hopefully not too much. This is still _my_ town." Regina sneered as she slowly led the group to 108 Mifflin street.

"I wish I had thought to leave my bug at the docks. My feet are killing me." Emma stopped to rub one of her calves.

"We really did do a lot of walking, running, chasing, swimming, and climbing in Neverland." David agreed resting against a nearby fence.

"Why don't we just use magic to poof ourselves home?" Henry, following everyone who lead, stopped walking and turn towards the rest of the group.

"I can do it! I've been practicing!" Penny jumped up and closed her eyes to summon up her magic. But before she could Regina stopped her.

"No! No magic." The older woman slowly released the young girl's hand. She answered the kids questions before they could even be asked. "We used a lot of magic on Neverland. There is no need to over exert ourselves. Remember what my mother said about magic being energy?"

"But Ms. Gina's I feel fine." Penny argued.

"Yeah, me too mom." Henry nodded in agreement.

"No ones uses magic for a week. Especially not for simple things you could easily do without it. Emma and I won't use our magic either."

Emma makes weird protesting noise from somewhere not far behind. "Ms. Swan do not make that face. You can hardly even use your magic."

"Hey!" Emma gasped. "I improved a lot in Neverland! I can control my magic now. I could poof us _all_ to the mansion right now of I wanted to."

"You will not do such thing. We are all going on a magic suspension for the rest of the week and that's final." Regina promptly ended all further discussion.

"How much you want to bet she's going to be the first to crack?" David whispered into his wife's ear.

"David!?"

"What? It's an honest question."

"Wait. What are we going to do with Peter Pan and his group of mean-heads?" Penny motioned behind herself to the tied up Pan, Felix, Greg, and Tamara being held by the Lost kids.

"Lock them in jails?" Emma suggested.

"Oh no. I have a special place in mind for these four. We will have to use magic for what I have in mind though. This will be the last time until the end of the week understood?" With a nod she turned to her son and his best friend. "Henry? Penelope Jean? Did you want to do the honors?"

"Yes!"

"Ok. So I'll need you both to hold my hands. I'll guide our magic to where it needs to go. All you two need to is focus on connecting our powers. Ok?" Once the children latched on to her hands Regina focused her energy to the four menaces that have been a pain in her side for the past however long they were in Neverland. With a nod of her head the four disappeared from sight.

"Where did you send them?" Snow asked as the group began making their way back to the mansion.

"In a place they will never be able to escape. The less you know, the better."

XXX

"That's you're house!!" John Darling gasped. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief at they stepped onto the property. The white mansion looked to have survived without them.

"Yup! We even have a movie theater and a secret library and…"

"A Wii! They have Wii and ALL of the Mario games." Penny blurted, interrupting Henry. Both kids smiles faded when the lost boys and Wendy were not smiling with them. "What's wrong?"

"We don't know what most of that means." One of the lost boys explained. "Remember, we're from a different time. This is all still new to us."

"Wait. What _do_ you know? Do you know what a car is?"

"Of course. I mean I've never seen any as fancy as that one," John pointed to Emma's yellow Volkswagen. "but we know what they are."

"Hear that Regina? My car is fancy." Emma smirked, as the elbowed the woman next to her.

"Your car is a metal death trap on wheels. And it is a danger to anyone inside and outside of it."

"Sheesh. Who got your panties in a twist.?"

"I don't know Ms. Swan. Maybe it was that rat faced weasel and his Tweedle Dum Dums."

Emma starred at the ex-queen for a moment, before she pulled the 'in case of emergency' chocolate bar she'd been keeping in her back pocket and offered it to Regina.

"Have a Snickers."

"That's an Apollo bar."

"Just eat it."

"Why?" Regina asked cautiously looking at the chocolate in the other woman's hand.

"Because you're not you when you're hungry." Emma quoted as seriously as she could before flashing her white teeth.

Regina fought the smile forming on her lips before she rolled her eyes and entered the house to find where the children ran off to.

"MOM!! MOM!"

"Henry! What is it?! What's wrong?!" Regina and the other adults ran into the kitchen ready to fight off whatever posed a danger to the young boy, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Well, all but the teary-eyed preteens. "Henry. Penny. What's wrong?"

"WE MISSED EVERYTHING!!"

"Tomorrow is _New years eve eve_!" Penelope added. "We missed Halloween, Thanksgiving, _CHRISTMAS_! WE MISSED CHRISTMAS!! And summer break…"

"I missed the first day of school.." Henry pouted.

Penny rolled her eyes. "..Yeah.. school.." Leave it to Henry Mills to be the _only_ kid who _actually_ wanted to go to school. He was missing the important stuff. Like all of the holidays that involves food, candy, and free gifts.

"Why don't we… have a do over?" Emma suggested and the children lit up at the thought. "Yeah. A holiday do over. We could.. I don't know, have all of the holidays in one day."

Regina sighed. "Ms. Swan, while that is a great idea, it would take days of us to prepare each holiday."

"It doesn't have to." Henry argued. "We could magic some-"

"No magic."

"But mom, think about it. We-"

"No magic Henry."

"Mom!"

"Henry it's ok." Penny Jean quickly intervened. "We can make our own decorations. I do it all the time. I can teach you. And we could also go to the store and by some if we need. They should all be on sale now. I mean the holidays have passed…."

"Oh Emma!" Snow marveled. "We can make up for all of our lost time together. I'm going to make a scrap book!!" Before anyone could say anything, Mary Margaret flew out of the house with an imaginary trail of rainbows following her.

"Wonderful!" Regina clapped her hands together grabbing everyone's attention. "Now that she's gone, let's get to business. We will decorate the family room for Christmas and the dining room for thanksgiving. The porch outside can decorated for Halloween. Hook and Neal I assume you two can handle getting the Christmas decorations from the basement." She pointed towards the door and the men were off. "Penelope, Henry show the lost children to an empty room in the house where they can put their things and then you may begin making decorations. The rest of you are in the kitchen with me. We have a feast to prepare."

It wasn't long before Regina was regretting how she paired everyone off. Tinker Bell had no idea how the this world's appliances worked and Emma and David acted as if they'd never seen a kitchen, let alone know how to use anything in it. And it was never, ever a good idea to leave a group of ten year olds unattended. Though she couldn't complain too much about them, even if they were unusually quiet for a _group of preteens_. Hook and Neal, well…to put it simply, they hated each other. There was nothing anyone could do with them. She might have done that one on purpose.

"Oi! What are you smirking at you majesty?" Hook called out to Regina as he dropped a large box in the middle of the foyer.

"Captain Hook slacking on the job." Neal taunted as dropped another large box on the floor. "Why am I not surprised."

"Bigger off mate. What goes on between me and the queen is my business."

"I'm not your _mate_."

"Enough both of you!" The queen raised her hands. Finish bringing the rest of the boxes up and set them in the living room."

x x x

Everything was going smoothly. All of the rooms were decorated, the food was warming in the oven. Everything was set and ready for the first holiday. Mary Margaret returned some time during preparation with candy and Halloween costumes for everyone. She also designated herself the official photographer of the holidays.

"Hold still Henry." Mary Margaret adjusted his orange ascot before stepping away and pointing the camera at the group of children. "The picture has to be perfect for the scrapbook."

They were dressed as the mystery gang from Scooby doo. Henry was Fred. Penny was Velma. Wendy was Daphne. John was Shaggy. Michael, Scooby doo and Pablo, one of the lost boys, was the monster. No one understood how Snow able to create these detailed costumes in such a short amount of time. It seemed to work in everyone's benefit, so no one questioned it.

She, Emma, and David were dressed as wizards from Harry Potter. Regina opted for one of her less scary evil queen outfits. Hook stayed the same, claiming he was _already_ the hero everyone wanted to be. Neal and Tinkerbelle dressed up as salt and peppers shakers. Snow was there to take pictures of it all.

"Ok. All children outside or no one gets candy." Emma directed.

The idea was, the children would walk to the end of the driveway and back. A different adult would answer the door and give out candy until they ran out of adults. Mary Margaret was first in the lineup, though she didn't really give the others a choice in the matter.

"Trick or treat!"

"Oh what Lovely costumes!" Snow gushed in fake surprise. She dumped her entire bowl into each of the children's bags.

"Mary Margaret." Emma whined. "You were supposed to save some candy for the rest of us to pass out."

"I'm sorry. I give candy based off of how much I like a costume." She hugged the candy bowl to her chest. "And they all just looked so cute in their outfits."

"Well I'd hope so. You made the costumes." Regina rolled her eyes and left into the living room to finish setting up for Christmas.

The third time around the children barely got the sentence out before Hook sprayed them with silly string.

"Hook!" Neal shoved him out of the doorway. "What the hell man?!"

"Oi! Those buggers said trick or treat. So I gave them a trick."

"I think it's time we move on to the next holiday." Emma suggested, stepping in between the two men and let the children into the house.

"Good Idea." Henry grumbled as pulled silly string from his face.

Penny stilled her movements of removing her costume. Something wasn't right. "Hey Henry. Do you smell that?"

"Fire! Fire!" Tinkerbell and David rushed out of the kitchen with burning entrees in their hands. "Someone opened the door! Quick."

Pablo was in a bit of shock, but widened the door all the same. He still wasn't used to being around adults. It was even more usual to see grown ups holding pans of fire. Pablo watched from the front door, the perfect view of both the inside and outside of the house, as Henry rushed out the door after the adults. The young boy turned on the sprinklers in an attempt to put out the fire. Sadly he ended up soaking the adults holding the food as well.

"Well the three musketeers burned my kitchen worse than my mother ever could." Regina groaned she watched as the two soaking adults carried also soaking food. "All the food was ruined. All of it. Even the food we didn't cook. We only have toast and popcorn left."

"I always wanted a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving!" Penelope smiled.

"Way to look on the bright side Penny." Henry encouraged.

"Just set what you have on the table." Wendy Darling, still in her Halloween costume, took the plate of toast from Regina and set it in the table. "We simply want to be together. Isn't that what it's all about? That is what said, correct Henry?"

"Yea exactly."

"Regina." Snow white had a strong grip on Regina's bicep. She had ugly tears streaming from her face. "You raised such beautiful children! Look at them! They're so smart."

"I only raised Henry." Regina grumbled.

"And you did a fantastic job!!" Snow flung herself at the older woman and pulled her into a bear hug.

"Happy thanksgiving snow." Regina gave snow's arm a pat, before peeling her off of her.

"The table is set." Neal called from the dining room. Once everyone was seat, Neal stood with his glass raised. " throwing all tradition out the window, why don't we start with dessert?" He used a Ladle to scoop the melted ice cream into a bowl. "Oh! Excuse me. Where are my manners?" Neal passed the bowl to Tinkerbelle.

Tink took one look at the melted bowl before gasping. "Oh. Where are my manners?" Tink then passed the bowl to Hook.

"Oi! It's about time I find some manners. Enjoy mate." Hook handed the bowl to David with his hook and slapped his back with his hand.

This went for awhile, until the bowl came back to, "Neal." Emma handed home the melted bowl of ice cream.

"If no one's going to actually eat any of this, can we just slip to Christmas?" Neal sighed. Everyone agreed and went into the living room.

The Christmas and new year holiday went by uneventful. Surprisingly. Regina just wanted to kick everyone out of her house, but everyone decided that they would rather have a sleepover in the mansion.

. . .

The next morning everyone was off to their own devices. The adults would be leaving soon to check on the town and see how much had changed since they left for Neverland.

Henry was off showing their new friends the secret tunnels he and Penny had made in the mansion's walls. There was the use of magic of course, but that was before the " _magic ban_ ". Penny decided it was a good enough time as any to check on her garden. She hoped most of her plants would be salvageable.

It turns out. Nothing had died. In fact it all look freshly watered and weeded.

"Who took care of my garden while we were gone?" Penny wondered out loud.

"That would be me sweet one." A slender, lanky woman popped her head over their neighboring fence. "Hello dear. My name is Mary Mack. I'm your new neighbor."

"Oh! I'm Penelope Jean Everetts. Delighted to make your acquaintance."

"Same to you." The woman agreed. She began to climb over the large wooden fence that separated the yards. She was dressed in all black and revealed a line of silver buttons down her spine when she twirled. "You have an impressive garden. You plant all this yourself?"

"Mostly, yes." Penny hummed as she surveyed her garden.

"You know, I have a garden too. Just on the other side of this fence." Mary pointed over her shoulder. "But I must admit my garden doesn't grow like normal plants do."

"Well how does your garden grow then?"

The older woman smiled and explained. "With bluebells, and cockle shells, gold Rose's, pink posies, and large daisies for the bees."

Penny crossed her arms and cocked her head. "Yes. That's nice, but how do they grow?"

"They're magic of course."

At that Penny Jean lit up. "Magic!?" She asked, needing to know if she'd heard correctly.

"Why yes. How else would I get the singing tulips to sing?"

"You have singing tulips?!"

"And dancing daffodils, jumping jaborosas and spinning snapdragons. Those will bite your fingers off if you're not careful." Mary twirled happily causing her silver buttons to shimmer. "Would you like to see?"

"Yes! I'd love that!"

Before Penny could climb over the fence David popped his head into the garden. "Penny Jean. I just wanted to let you know that we are leaving."

"As I live a breathe." Mary gasped. "My little lamb!" Mary threw herself at David. She peppered kisses all over his face. "Look how much you've grown!"

"Mary? What- what are you doing here?"

Mary release date David from her death hug. And smiled. "Well, I was in the Enchanted Forest minding my own business, tending my sheep. And then all of a sudden this Green Smoke sweeps me up. When the smoke cleared I was in Storybrooke!"

David frowned. "Green smoke?"

"Were you cursed?" Penny steps in.

"Why, I don't think so. I've been cursed before." Mary admitted. "I feel the same."

"Well, it's nothing to worry about. Yet." David assures like the sheriff he is. "I'll discuss this with Regina. Maybe she knows something about this."

"And I have to go tell Henry." Penny agreed. "Can I see your garden another time?"

"Absolutely! Come by any time you like."

X.X.X.

It was late in the evening and the adults had yet to return home. Not only was prey bored out if her mind, but she also couldn't see. She checked all over her room, but she couldn't find her glasses. The last she remembered having them was when the hand a super Mario tournament using the Wii in the living room. They weren't in there either.

"I lost my glasses." Penelope admitted to Henry, hoping he had seen them somewhere or would help her look.

"Then just use your spell." Henry waved off and continued to read.

"I lost my wand."

"You don't need a wand to do spells." Henry looked up from his book quizzically.

"Cora Said that it would be easier to learn spells if I had something to channel my magic into. My wand isn't magical; it's just a stick."

"Go get a stick from outside then." The young warlock dismissed as he went back to his book.

"Henry!" Penny wined. "Please come in the backyard with me? It's dark."

"No, Penny. Go by yourself."

Penelope Jean mumbled under her breath as she stomped from the room and out into the dark yard. She still hadn't recovered from Grandma Cora lesson in the tunnels or the darkness or Neverland. Not that any of that truly affected her; Penny was always feared the dark. Never know what was lurking in the shadows or if it meant to harm her. The backyard was huge. Lots of open space. There wasn't much for a monster or serial killer to hide behind. Sadly it also meat that she'd have to venture further into the yard to retrieve a stick of any kind.

Once Penny reached the edge of the garden that connects to the woody area, she was seriously having second thoughts. Maybe she could just use a wooden spoon from the kitchen.

Yeah.

No. She couldn't. She could do this. Ignoring the argument going on in her head, Penelope entered the dark woods. Not wasting any time Penny pulled a twig that was barely holding on off of a nearby tree.

The young girl was about to make her way back into the house when a movement caught her eye. The creature didn't waste time in letting itself be known. Something was in the woods and Penny Jean wasn't staying to find out what. The large flapping sound seemed to get closer. No sudden movements. She told herself. It was clear she wouldn't be able to out run the beast, but maybe she could get back on to the property where the queen most likely put a protection spell.

Penny really wished she had her glasses now. She couldn't see clearly. The world around was a fuzzy. Some of the trees seem to run together. If she was going to die tonight, she at least wanted to be able to see what killed her. Penny took a deep breath and willed her glasses to come to her.

When Penelope Jean opened her eyes she could see the forest clearly. She quickly lifted her hand to confirm her glasses rested on her nose. IT WORKED! But Penny still had the winged beast to worry about. She searched the woods for the creature, but it was no where to be seen. The beast was huge, there was no way if left without her knowing. She couldn't have imagined it, could she? No. She couldn't. With or without her glasses she knew there was something out here. Deciding not to question it, Penny turned in the direction of the house only to be met with a face of green. The last thing she remembered was screaming before the world went black.

Henry finally finished his new comic book. He couldn't wait to tell Penelope Jean how it ended. He felt bad for dismissing his friend the way he had earlier. Henry hopped from his bed a made his way to Penny's room to apologize. He smiled at the small night lights that filled every other outlet in the halls. He and his mom added them the second night Penny had officially lived with them. Penny was afraid of the dark and often needed the restroom or a snack in the middle of the night. Not to mention without her glasses Penny was practically blind. Henry stopped in the middle of the hallway. He told Penny to go outside in the dark without her glasses. He should have went with her. It was the right thing to do. She was probably wondering the house blind.

Now the right thing to do was apologize. Henry knocked on Penny's door. He waited but never received an answer. Henry knocked again. "Penny. It's me Henry."

No response.

"Penny I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I'll go outside with you to find a stick. I should have went with you earlier. Can you forgive me?"

Still no response.

"Please Penny. I'm sorry." Henry tried again.

Nothing.

"Penny?" Henry hesitated to open the door, but when he heard a scream, he rushed into the room. It was empty. Penny wasn't in here. But he heard her scream. She wouldn't have went outside by herself would she? Of course she would.

"Henry! What was that?!" John Darling burst into the room followed Wendy and Pablo, one of the lost boys.

"I think Penny's in trouble."

"Well, what are we going to do? What do you think happened?" Wendy pushed past her brother and moved further into the room.

"I'm not exactly sure. But whatever we do we need to act fast. I think I might know where she is." And with that the children ran off into the dark backyard.

The back yard was unusually dark. The porch light was out. Henry noticed and frowned. His mother just added a new one. Something wasn't right.

"Henry, I found a torch in the kitchen." Wendy proudly held up a flashlight.

"Good thinking. Pablo I need you go call mom."

"Si!" Pablo scurried back onto the house.

"Ok." Henry turned to Wendy and John. "While Pablo calls mom for backup, we need to make a plan. First things first. We need to," Henry lost he is train of thought when he heard Pablo screaming from inside the house. "Mama'!"

"Pablo! What are you doing?" Henry called into the house.

"Calling for mom." Pablo yelled as he made his way back the rest of them.

"She not here. That's why I asked you to call her. On the phone."

"Ohh. The phone. Sí." Pablo hesitated. "What's de phone?"

Henry sighed. He was going to be in so much trouble when his mom returned.

 **XXX**

 **I hope you enjoyed that chapter. Nothing in the world makes sense. I promise you it will soon… or won't! Lol.**


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